Dying in the Name of Vaccine Freedom | NYT Opinion

In the video above, Alexander Stockton, a producer on the Opinion Video team, explores two of the main reasons the number of Covid cases is soaring once again in the United States: vaccine hesitancy and refusal.

“It’s hard to watch the pandemic drag on as Americans refuse the vaccine in the name of freedom,” he says.

Seeking understanding, Mr. Stockton travels to Mountain Home, Ark., in the Ozarks, a region with galloping contagion and — not unrelated — abysmal vaccination rates.

He finds that a range of feelings and beliefs underpins the low rates — including fear, skepticism and a libertarian strain of defiance.

This doubt even extends to the staff at a regional hospital, where about half of the medical personnel are not vaccinated — even while the intensive care unit is crowded with unvaccinated Covid patients fighting for their lives.

Mountain Home — like the United States as a whole — is caught in a tug of war between private liberty and public health. But Mr. Stockton suggests that unless government upholds its duty to protect Americans, keeping the common good in mind, this may be a battle with no end.


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[lucyking]

Hi, I'm Lucy, one of the producers with Opinion Video who made this film. I'd love to know your thoughts on the video, and what public officials and communities could do to convince more people to get vaccinated. Leave your comments below and I'll do my best to respond!

[imthevictorr]

So Christopher's parents in their 70s who were vaccinated and got covid are still alive but Christopher who wasnt vaccinated and got covid died.

[RizzieMcGuire]

Here in Thailand, we barely have any vaccines, people are desperate to get vaccinated, and less that 10% of us are vaccinated. It feels very unfair that Americans just shoo it away when so many of us would have it in a heartbeat.

[jrocmfdeal]

I hate how politicized this pandemic has become.

[taylorlover]

I hope these “my body my choice” individuals maintain the same energy when talking about abortions and the bodily autonomy rights of pregnant people.

[oriond]

It’s Easier To Fool People Than To Convince Them That They’ve Been Fooled.

[MzNoir_Rain]

If you don’t trust those in the medical profession then why go to the hospital to the same people you distrust?

[garypellerin]

If you don't like being told what to do then a hospital is one of the last places you want to be.

[tx]

I was a new RN in September, 2020, and I started on a covid-19 stepdown unit. It was a trial by fire. I'll always remember being part of this history.

[annalieff-saxby]

Well, there's your problem right there: "I don't like being told what to do". This is the wilfulness of a child. I don't like being told what to do, either; but not to the extent of dying to prove my point.

[DavidHernandez-kdmk]

When did we start taking Medical advice from Politicians? This country has gone nuts.

[elizabethgrailepallogan]

im living in a country where we have shortage of vaccines coz everyone wants to have it if you don't want it just give it to us.

[guthrie_the_wizard]

We direly need to teach “Critical Thinking & Rational Skepticism”, “Financial Literacy & Wealth Development ”, and “Practical Ethics & Citizenship” as required courses in all high schools.

[westerntrend]

The situation is entirely different in the Philippines...
People are lining up to get a shot but there isn't enough of it.

[geneshifter]

With freedom comes responsibility. Some people wanting one without the other is the problem.

[procastination_is_my_passi]

I'm a PCT who survived three waves of the pandemic. It was absolutely horrible. I worked at the tele/med-surge unit which was quickly transformed to the COVID unit. We went from having 1-2 codes a week to having nearly 3-4 codes a day at the worst of this pandemic. I usually had 2-3 other pct's on the floor with me, but this pandemic has created such a major under staffing issue, that I was often left as the only PCT on the floor; that meant that I had to help tend to 30 patients (minimum) every single shift, which, for those unaware, is 12 hours per shift. I'm pre-med and am working towards applying for Med School, but this whole pandemic has taken a lot out of me and I'm so worn out. Mind you, most PCT's are only getting paid 13-15 dollars as our base salary, and honestly I don't think it's worth it having to sacrifice my mental and physical health for a population that did so little to assist health care professionals when we were the most vulnerable and overworked. People were asked at the very least to wear a mask and to limit social gatherings, yet they failed to even do such easy tasks, while we were out here being over-worked, underpaid, and seeing our patients die such horrible deaths every single shift. I'm tired and I'm bitter and I'm quitting next month so I can take a break and re-allign myself.

[BR-dcjn]

“I don’t like people telling me what to do”
Someone is going to tell him to pay a huge hospital bill.

[SA-ydxk]

Its amazing how the politicians are vaccinated and keep telling the people they don't have to be vaccinated.

[annelise]

As a nurse working at an infectious disease ward: of the many patients I’ve met who were vaccinated and still got COVID, the large majority of them had a mild version of it. They might as well just have had a bad cold.

[fabi]

"Give me liberty or give me death" - well sure, if you decide not to clog ICUs, hospitals and be a burden on our health care system, I'll happily have you the greatest liberties there are. Leaves more room for those that genuinely require medical help or unfortunately experience breakthrough infections