Vaccines and Power
by Chris Farrell, Gatestone Institute:
COVID-19 is a serious disease that can have deadly consequences. The good news is that now the recovery rate is between 97% and 99.75%. As the world approaches its second full year grappling with the ever-mutating virus and the public health response, some serious public policy and political questions require attention:
- Are some people looking to leverage vaccination status to stigmatize and marginalize political opponents?
- Is vaccine status being equated with ideology or political affiliation?
- Is vaccine status going to be the new societal discriminator for those who might be “more equal” than others?
- Are we seeing efforts to control and pressure citizens for daring to question government officials?
- What about officials who seek to change the meaning of terms such as “fully vaccinated,” or altogether abandon terms and conditions that were used to persuade the public to shut down businesses and society at-large.
The German news magazine, Der Spiegel, recently featured a story titled: “Study Finds Link Between Far Right and High Corona Rates in Germany.” The subtitle of the story is:
“The number of coronavirus infections is rising sharply in parts of Germany where the far-right AfD party enjoys greater support. Is it a coincidence? Researchers took a close look at the corollaries and drew some conclusions that surprised even them.”
Der Spiegel reporters Holger Dambeck and Peter Maxwill reported:
“An interdisciplinary team at the Research Institute for Social Cohesion and a researcher from Munich systematically investigated the connection between the election results and the spread of the pathogen. The experts’ findings are clear: The higher the number of votes the AfD got in a region in the 2017 election, the faster the coronavirus spread there in 2020.”
The broader political messaging is clear: Conservatives are disease-spreading troglodytes that endanger civilization.
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