I'm not sure I agree with you. If you don't get vaccinated, the only person you hurt is yourself. If you have been vaccinated, you can still spread the virus.
This is not necessarily accurate, the latest research suggests the vaccines reduce the transmission of the virus. The current thinking is a vaccinated person may pick up the virus, however the antibodies prevent or severely impair the virus's ability to reproduce. This reduces the viral load a person can carry, with the reduced viral load, there is less virus that can be spread.
Less coronavirus means less chance of spreading it, and if the amount of virus in your body is low enough, the probability of transmitting it may reach almost zero. However, researchers don't yet know where that cutoff is for the coronavirus, and since the vaccines don't provide 100% protection from infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people continue to wear masks and social distance even
after they've been vaccinated.
(link to article below)
This is also why I believe the spread in elementary schools is very low, little kids have small lungs and bodies the viral load they can carry is also small, their breaths have less volume, and their sneezes and coughs have less force than adults and teenagers. In addition, they are closer to the ground so the aerosols reach the ground quickly.
The effect of the unvaccinated becoming ill extends beyond the individual. Every infected person who becomes hospitalized reduces the number of hospital beds available to others who through no fault of their own require hospitalization.
Every infected person who is not vaccinated provides a host for the virus to replicate and mutate. We can't predict what mutations might occur and if the current crop of vaccines can protect us against mutations. A vaccinated person, even if infected, will not become as ill and will provide less opportunity for the virus to mutate.
I was raised to believe, and I still do, that we have to be responsible for ourselves and our own actions. I was also taught, and believe, that we have to act for the common good even though at times it may be inconvenient or at some cost to ourselves. Not getting a vaccine to prevent and limit the spread of this deadly virus (over half a million killed in a year and counting) does not contribute to the common good, it acts against the common good and acts against the best interests of society and country.
Given the plethora of lies and disinformation propagated over the last few years, I understand how many might be reluctant to trust anyone. However, at some point we have to accept the reality that too many people have died from Covid and many of those deaths could have been prevented with a vaccine and by taking reasonable unintrusive actions.
Finally, if someone doesn't want to contribute through their behavior to common good of their community and society, then they should not expect to reap the benefits of their membership in that community. This idea is as old as our country.
So you've gotten your coronavirus vaccine, waited the two weeks for your immune system to respond to the shot and are now fully vaccinated. Does this mean you can make your way through the world like the old days without fear of spreading the virus? Deborah Fuller is a microbiologist at the...
medicalxpress.com