What is my reason for still not receiving the vaccine? And how do I describe it to friends, co-workers, family and others who don’t understand?

I am preoccupied with doing the right thing. It is uncomfortable to be out of step with 95% of the medical providers at my clinic. It sucks that the president, the media and everyone else who are also trying to do the right thing, are currently villainizing the unvaccinated like me.

I have been concerned that this new medical technology might have more risks than are being publicly acknowledged. I know there is a public health bias in messaging that might downplay side effects. When considering the VAERS database, I have listened to Dr. Peter McCullough describe the magnitude of adverse events that he believes should shut down the program. This is obviously at odds with mainstream public health officials, and I privately have been sorting and weighing claims from independent experts and analysts against the judgement of experts affiliated with authoritative institutions.

These risks have been weighed against the risks I perceive from the virus to myself, as a 34 year old with healthy weight and no medical problems. This risk-based assessment has been missing from mainstream messaging that has focused exclusively on the yes/no binary of vaccination.

Recently, comments from both the President in his address on Thursday 9/9, and from Anthony Fauci, indicate willingness to mandate or force this vaccine onto those who so far have been unwilling to voluntarily receive it. While anger and frustration with the unvaccinated is high, and the compassion for us is limited, this recent messaging is an alarming violation of human rights. There is not a public health justification for people to lose the right to decide what goes into their bodies. I think of all the exceptional cases that are being ignored with the universal mandate, and it is clear to me that this is not right.

We could discuss early treatment, free speech and censorship, manipulation of the data, the economic impact of our COVID response and other topics that all contribute to the creation of a widely believed worldview that I suspect doesn’t hold up to thorough evaluation. There has been a mass psychological operation underway, and that has been necessary for doctors, journalists, political leaders and everyone else to participate and comply with rules and orders that don’t make sense, and are not in our collective best interest.

That last paragraph is spicy, and with many of my relations, I think sharing that view will deepen the rift and cause them to dismiss what else I have to say, and grow more defensive of the propagandized worldview that labels critical thinking and investigative research as delusional “conspiracy theories.” I share it here on this blog, for those who are open to considering such a possibility.