My reply was somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, as you wrote. Thanks for your detailed response with which I mostly agree.
While I'm aware of the children who cannot get certain vaccines, I'm also aware of a greater number of people who deny the science that has protected us for my entire life of nearly 70 years. During the Covid pandemic, there were many people who "did their own research" on the internet. As if any of them really have the scientific knowledge or understanding of medicine. Their "research" was too often BS YouTube videos by loud mouth fools like Joe Rogan who really do not know much of anything. To encapsulate my thoughts there was a sign in my doctor's office that said, "Please do not confuse your internet "research" with my decades of study, experience and research."
So-called herd immunity is critical for vaccines to work properly to protect the public at large. As you cogently point out, it's not just the children who need the vaccines but us older folks need it too to protect those around us.
I am mostly a fair-minded man who has empathy for others. I'll offer help if it's obvious someone is struggling. But when it comes to the MAGA types, I have nothing to offer them. They don't care about others so why should I give a damn if they condemn their children or themselves to these entirely preventable diseases?
Here's a personal anecdote to illustrate my experiences. A distant in-law on my ex-wife's side had a tween who caught Covid back in 2021. She died because her parents believed the nonsense that the vaccine contained nano-bots. I refused to attend the funeral and I've cut them out of my life. By the way, they have always expressed violent hatred of Democrats and their undisguised hatred of President Obama was steeped in bigotry.
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to write an intelligent reply to my post.
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