Where to begin with Matthew Fletcher’s anti-vaccine screed published in last week’s Barrington Times? First, a few facts: 1. Unvaccinated adults are 16 times more likely to be hospitalized for Covid than fully vaccinated adults. 2. Unvaccinated adults over 65 are 50 times more likely to be hospitalized for Covid than those who are fully vaccinated. 3. Unvaccinated people are 20 times more likely to die of Covid than people who are fully vaccinated.  4. After over 92 million doses of Covid vaccine had been administered in the United States the CDC analyzed the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) and concluded that there was no evidence linking any deaths to the vaccine. Suffice it to say, these vaccines are still amazingly safe and effective. 

Mr. Fletcher cites “a growing body of some very concerning evidence associated” with vaccines. Presumably, this information that he is privy to has either escaped the notice of our national and global public health officials and medical advisory boards, or else they must be feverishly working in concert to dupe the public and suppress information about the dangers of these vaccines.  Most people cannot be expected to understand exactly how these vaccines work so maybe it makes sense for them to follow expert opinion. Take Anthony Fauci or Rochelle Walensky’s lead over, say, Tucker Carlson or Nicki Minaj. Or ask your doctor - 99 percent of doctors are vaccinated. For those who follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis called getting vaccinated a ’moral obligation’ and an ‘act of love’ .

Beyond vaccine misinformation and fearmongering, Mr. Fletcher goes on to champion his ‘love of liberty’ and visions of an ‘unafraid populace’ ‘thinking for themselves’ in his outrage over the notion that vaccines be mandated. The problem with this argument is that we do not live in individual bubbles. In any decent society, the welfare of others needs to be weighed against individuals’ uninhibited freedom of choice. That’s why driving drunk or dumping garbage in the street are not viewed as acceptable personal choices. Choosing to not get vaccinated endangers others and jeopardizes our healthcare workers and hospital systems. 

If only the anti-vax folks could visit any ICU in the country and witness the overwhelming number of unvaccinated Covid patients filling these units and requiring protracted and expensive critical care as they cling to life and come to regret their vaccine decisions. Doctors and nurses are burnt out by this crisis and are leaving medicine in droves. Meanwhile non-Covid patients struggle to access critical care and elective surgeries because of this preventable burden of disease that is sucking up a disproportionate share of our medical resources. 

As for the ‘draconian’ push to vaccinate by the ‘shot tyrants’ I assume Mr. Fletcher received all his childhood vaccines and dutifully vaccinated his own children as required by every public school in the United States. So if we, as a society, can get behind inoculating all our children against diphtheria, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus etc. why is the idea of requiring a vaccine against the disease that is actually ravaging and killing Americans (in numbers not seen since the Spanish Flu of 1918) a bridge too far?

Of course, there are breakthrough cases in vaccinated people but hey harbor less virus, carry weaker virus for shorter periods of time, and do not transmit the virus as effectively and lethally as unvaccinated people do. And, incidentally, the fact that breakthrough infections happen in vaccinated people strengthens the case for mandates, because it means that even those who’ve gotten their shots face some danger from those who refuse to do so.

Admittedly, the vaccine is not 100 percent protective and it is annoying that it requires periodic boosters, but it is the single most effective tool we have to combat a virus that has brought our economy and healthcare system to its knees and killed almost a million Americans. If you can’t prevent all disease isn’t preventing the worst of it still worthwhile? 

Widespread, mandated vaccination has been the solution to life-threatening public health emergencies in our past. The eradication of smallpox is estimated to have prevented 150-200 million deaths since, even though anti-vax groups of the time called compulsory smallpox vaccination ‘the greatest crime of the age’. Later came the eradication of polio and the near-eradication of measles (except for periodic outbreaks among unvaccinated cohorts). These spectacular achievements relied on vaccine mandates with legal precedent going back to the Supreme Court’s landmark 1905 ruling that ‘legitimized the authority of states to reasonably infringe upon personal freedoms during a public health crisis (small pox)’. And while it may be too late to eradicate Covid, widespread adoption of vaccines and modified boosters as needed could help keep its devastating effects in check. 

So, Mr. Fletcher, although you are certainly entitled to your personal beliefs, you must recognize that we are all in this together and that the most selfless and socially responsible thing you can do is to roll up your sleeve and get vaccinated. 

Michael Johnson, MD
Barrington