No, RFK you cannot appropriate ‘my body my choice’ to a vaccine for an infectious disease. IF YOU WANT TO ENGAGE WITH SOCIETY AND RELY ON THEM, THEN YOU MUST CONSIDER THE LIVES OF OTHERS IN SOCIETY.
I"My Body My Choice but not when it comes to 'vaccine mandates'?!"
I see this incredibly flawed argument quite frequently ever since RFK has gained popularity and was appointed to Trump’s cabinet. This phrase, used most commonly to describe women's right to an abortion or medical care, is not in anyway comparable to a vaccine to help control infectious diseases.
Let's talk about why in really simple terms:
'My rights end where your rights begin' is a great rule of thumb when discussing human rights. We all have bodily autonomy UNTIL if affects someone else. For example, I have the right to move my body however I please, unless I punch someone in the face. I don't have the right to do that. That infringes on their rights.
1) What about the vaccine mandate?! There was no 'vaccine mandate.' During the height of the Covid pandemic, American citizens were not forcibly injected with a Covid vaccine against their will. There are thousands that remain unvaccinated to this day. You had the ability to remain unvaccinated if you wanted to, that was your choice. You had bodily autonomy. It was your body your choice as it should be. However, your rights end there.
2) Public health requires an understanding that like it or not we live in a society where we rely on others for goods and services, one of those being medical and emergency services. Regardless of any moral obligation to not infect your neighbor with a potentially fatal disease, even on the most selfish of terms if everyone dies of a disease, we literally won't have people to do the jobs we rely on each other for. Even if capitalism and a free market is something you love, you won’t have workers to work and create profits. During the height of the pandemic, our hospitals were so overwhelmed due to the amount of people sick, they could not provide medical care. They didn't even have enough room to stack dead bodies.
3) How do vaccines work? Every vaccine is different, but in general they work by building immunity to a pathogen, reducing infection in the first place and also by reducing serious outcomes if you do happen to get infected. By receiving the original COVID vaccine, you were less likely to need medical or emergency care. You wouldn't overwhelm the hospitals should you become infected. Vaccines also can help stop a virus from mutating, another really important element.
Here is where my body my choice comes into play. Even with the clear logical, ethical and moral obligation we have to do everything in our power to stop the spread of disease and stop the need for medical care, we still did NOT require American citizens to get the Covid vaccine! Americans are not required to receive any vaccines.
The 'vaccine mandate' during Covid you may be referring to is when businesses and some schools etc incentivized people to receive the vaccine to do their part. If you want to enter my restaurant, you must be vaccinated for example. If you want to work in this office, you must be vaccinated. If you don't want to get vaccinated, no problem, you just don't get access to my business. This is an incredibly logical and perfect display of 'my rights end where your rights begin' and the understanding of public health in action. At my restaurant, if you are unvaccinated you are A) more likely to infect others or B) become infected yourself and have a serious outcome further burdening our hospitals. Therefore, it is in the best interest of all parties involved, that you don't enter my restaurant.
You cannot have your cake and eat it too. You don't want to get a vaccine that reduces your chances of needing 911 but when you inevitably get seriously ill you want to have immediate access to care when you call 911?
IF YOU WANT TO ENGAGE WITH SOCIETY AND RELY ON THEM, THEN YOU MUST CONSIDER THE LIVES OF OTHERS IN SOCIETY. (This is also how I feel about living wages but I digress.) That is how it works. If you don't want to vaccinate your children? No problem. I know most parents want to do what they believe is best for their kids. That is your right. You can home school them. You don't get to rely on our school system, the teachers and administrators, the other children and their families, and infect them with diseases rendering them unable to provide services or worse. Of course there are medical exemptions made. These are reserved for true immunocompromised people. But we rely on the rest to do their part. But gab, what about the risks of the vaccines?! Glad you asked. I hate big pharma. I do. But I also like facts. Of course there are potential side effects from vaccines. I do not invalidate vaccine injury. You can also die from Tylenol. Everything comes with risks. If enough parents decided it was 'too risky' and didn't vaccinate their children and were allowed to send them to school, we'd get major outbreaks of diseases with far far worse survival outcomes and catastrophic outcomes nationwide. You can also die from drinking too much water...Let's not make a case to ban water.
Bodily autonomy is a fundamental right. Forcibly requiring someone to give birth is not the same as being incentivized to get a vaccine to enter a business or attend a school.
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1Kelly Duffy
