TheRedDevil'sAdvocate
Full Member
It’s mad to see the nonsense being posted about vaccines in the football forum when this gets discussed outside the current events echo chamber.
An argument that gets used a lot on there (and I’ve seen on social media elsewhere) is that it isn’t worth getting vaccinated “because we now know that vaccinated people can still transmit the virus”.
This blows my mind for two reasons: a) We always knew vaccinated people could transmit the virus because we always knew vaccines were less than 100% effective and b) Why can’t they understand that even a reduction in the rate of transmission is still beneficial?
It’s weird/fascinating to see legitimately stupid notions taking hold in a diverse range of people. Weird/fascinating/depressing.
Don't forget that you're talking about people who, each for their own reasons, have deliberately decided to ignore all the facts and the advice of the vast majority of experts and they filter everything through their personal biases.
I can only speak for my country. This flimsy argument gained a lot of traction right after the government officials announced certain, let's call them privileges, for the fully vaccinated and, at the same time, played the social obligation card to boost the vaccination campaign. Now, because nobody wants to be labelled a bad citizen, the local anti-vax movement started looking for a response. When all the facts disagree with you, nothing's better than a fallacy: Treat the vaccines like the magic potion in Asterix and then use the hospitalizations and the deaths of the fully vaccinated people to argue that the vaccines are not effective. Then mix it up with some lies, like the "vaccine or no vaccine is one and the same for the Delta variant" argument that's currently very popular.
I admire your efforts (and others') on this forum. Personally, i've given up. Reason and logic have zero effect when you're talking to a wall. After all, this is the age in which the right to an opinion and "winning the fight of opinions" is more important than the truth. I have a colleague who's an avid member of the anti-vax campaign, and he spouts the nonsense you mention on a daily basis. I know him well and i can guarantee you that if the Cuban vaccine was made available and if it was a Commissar the official urging people to get the jabs, he would be the first in line to get vaccinated. Now, all he does is talk and talk about the ineffectiveness of the German and Anglo-Saxon "rubbish". You simply can't fight this and the worst thing is that it makes people who just need a bit more convincing a lot more hesitant.