By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
The first shoe fell on Tuesday in New York City. And yes, it was quickly overshadowed by the governor’s harassment charges (and President Biden’s correct call to ask him to resign), but the more important news is that New York City will require proof of vaccination to enter all restaurants, fitness centers and indoor entertainment venues.
Bam.
“If you’re unvaccinated, unfortunately, you will not be able to participate in many things,” de Blasio said. “If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated.”
And just like that the first domino has fallen. I fully support New York’s move. I hope it comes to California. Nothing worse than trying to work out in a mask because some people think the 
rules don’t apply to them.
Look, if people don’t want to vaccinate that is probably their choice and their right. But we have forgotten that rights come with responsibilities and sometimes they come with tradeoffs. More and more employers are going to mandate it. And, as far as I’m concerned, if you choose not to protect yourself, your family, that is your right—but you don’t have the right to endanger me and my family.
And no, I’m sorry, just because I’m vaccinated, it does not mean I am protected from your arrogance.
The data is frightening. It was only a month ago, it was July 4, and the numbers were 14,000 a day. Now it is up to 92,000 yesterday. Today it could be banging on the door at 100,000 new cases.
Let’s look at some of the data here—the top nine states in cases per 100,000: Louisiana leads the way at 93, Florida (82), Arkansas 64, Mississippi (58), Alabama (52), Missouri (43), Oklahoma and Alaska (42), and South Carolina 40. Texas is 10th at 37. See a trend here? The national average is 28 per 100,000. You have to get to Georgia and Nevada at 35 before you get to a state that voted for Biden. In the top 20 states, you have go further to 19 and 20—Arizona and Oregon—before you get more Blue states.
And Arizona and Oregon are below the national average. California is at 25. New York is at a stunningly low 13 per 100,000.
Coincidence? I think not.
An Axios poll released yesterday had some very interesting findings.
There is a huge divide between who vaccinated people blame versus who unvaccinated people blame for the surge of COVID.
Overall, “Americans place the most blame for rising COVID-19 cases and the spread of new variants on the unvaccinated, people from other nations traveling to the U.S. and Donald Trump.”
But when you break it into vaccinated and unvaccinated, you get some interesting dynamics.
The overwhelming number of people who are vaccinated blame the unvaccinated for rise. About 36 percent also blame Donald Trump, while about one-third blame the conservative media. Only 11.5 percent blame President Biden.
Among the unvaccinated, the conclusion is really all over the board. Foreign travelers, traveling Americans, the mainstream media—and of course President Biden.
Axios found: “The unvaccinated aren’t so sure who to blame — and are far more likely to buy into conspiracy theories involving the media or President Biden.”
“It’s purely political at its core,” said Cliff Young, president of Ipsos U.S. Public Affairs. “To the unvaccinated, it just reinforces an already existing false belief system.
“If this had happened 30 or 40 years ago, we wouldn’t have the same problem,” but “we’re in a world that’s extremely polarized,” Young said.
“We’re dealing with a serious misinformation wall at this point that’s clouding facts” for a “recalcitrant group … The only way to get to them if you’re going to get to them is hard policies, hard mandates.”
A scary poll, however, just came out this morning.
It’s a slight majority, but it’s still there: a majority of unvaccinated adults believe that the vaccine poses a bigger risk to their health than COVID, this according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Fifty-three percent of unvaccinated respondents think getting the vaccine is a bigger risk to their health than the virus itself.
Seventy-five percent of people who said they would “definitely not” get the shot think the COVID vaccine is a bigger risk.
By contrast, 88 percent of vaccinated respondents said the virus poses a greater threat.
The numbers overall are not that encouraging either. About two-thirds of all adults have reported getting the vaccine.
The poll found that 14 percent said they would definitely not—unchanged from the last poll in December. Ten percent are taking the wait-and-see approach, but eight percent of all adults expect to get vaccinated by the end of the year, and that could sufficiently close the gap on the wait-and-see.
This is why I am increasingly of the view that for entertainment or travel people should be required to show proof of vaccination. Don’t like it—don’t go. Don’t put the rest of us at risk.
Is this a racist edict being that 2/3’s of New York’s black population aren’t vaccinated?
So Democrats are now demanding Vaccination ID’s to get into establishments but no ID needed to vote. See the hypocrisy here?
In all of this we seem to have forgotten those who actually have had COVID, why are they required to get the vaccine?
“In all of this we seem to have forgotten those who actually have had COVID, why are they required to get the vaccine?”
From the CDC: “Yes, you should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. That’s because experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible—although rare—that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again. Studies have shown that vaccination provides a strong boost in protection in people who have recovered from COVID-19. “
Oh please, first of all the CDC changes direction with the wind. What’s their policy, depends on what day it is. Even if you took the vaccine you still could get infected with Covid-19 or the variant.
That’s an unreasonable take. We have a new virus. We have limited data on it. And it changes. The CDC may not be perfect – but who has been in this? We are dealing with a lot of unknowns. So my view: err on the side of caution particularly in low cost situations.
Should we require vaccination cards to come across our borders where we know that many already sick with COVID are illegally entering our country and being shipped off to different destinations to further spread the disease?
The first question that you have not answer – is it reasonable to require vaccination cards at gyms, bars and restaurants – your answer is?
It’s hypocritical only to those who compare the right to have a beer in public with the fundamental right to vote. It’s a false equivalency.
Eric… putting aside the “fundamental right” thingy… to vote, (at least in CA), you have to affirm, under penalty of perjury that you are who you say you are, and sign the roster or your VBM. Signatures are subject to checking. You have to provide all sorts of documentation when you first register to vote.
Vaxx cards have no photo ID, no signature… easily forgeable… possession of a vax card is no guarantee of vaccination…
Conclusion, “false equivalency” on not just principle, but also mechanics.
hKeith
No. I see no hypocrisy here at all. Those who are not vaccinated pose a higher risk of viral transmission up to and including a super spreader event. Whether or not you have an ID to vote poses no risk of serious illness or death to anyone else. See the difference.
I do not see requiring vaccination as a violation of individual rights. I see it as self defense against a potentially fatal illness . You have no constitutional right to enter any given place of business, but that business does have an obligation to protect its customers.
“In all of this we seem to have forgotten those who actually have had COVID, why are they required to get the vaccine?”
Looks like you’re wrong on this too.
“A new study of hundreds of Kentucky residents reveals more real-world data that shows COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection against reinfection than natural immunity.
Well, David, if you believe,
the, you should be recommending going “all in”… vaxx cards AND recent Covid test… we should all know full vaccination is not equal to full immunity…
You can debate whether it should be expanded to a COVID test. I would argue that simply going off vaccinations alone reduces the chance markedly of having the disease. Vaccination and mask probably reduces it to near zero. My statement was not just caution but cost, the requirement of tests for entry may prove costly and be overkill. We can certainly debate this point, but that’s my hot take.
Mask, as in if everyone else is wearing a mask, then yes.
I see none of the usual suspects who cry racism at the drop of a hat even tried to touch this. Why is that?
I don’t know, but I’ll go ask my pet Hippo, Crissy.
Now LA is considering the same rule… https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1423009720659415040?s=21
Does that surprise you? One thing I’ve noticed is that you seem to have sidestepped the low death rate from the Delta variant. Care to elaborate?
Death increases show up about a month or two down the line. So it’s a lagging indicator.
The Delta variant spread in England before it started to spread here. Here’s what they found:
Let’s see, notwithstanding all the anti-vax myths and all the pro-vax advertising.
1. Invent a new biotechnology, generally untested in humans.
2. Force everyone to have it.
3. What could possibly go wrong?
Point 3 is why it is immoral to coerce people to have it, both in principle and in practice.
That much should be plain and obvious, even before we get to the variety of highly qualified experts who are saying that there’s some huge problems with what the governments are doing, and that we’re facing risks of a worse disaster than the virus itself
Perhaps ‘in aggregate’… but not for those individuals, who have been hospitalized (or those turned away from ICU’s, non-Covid), those who died, and their families/friends…
What are you envisioning as a “worse disaster”? For individuals… or just aggregate, or just in your view?
I would like to know why some of my posts are not being posted?
There’s no derogatory language there’s no fake information and it’s not me and mean to anybody what’s the deal
[Moderator: “I pledge allegiance to the fag and their repubic” might have something to do with it.]
First, how is the moderator appearing inside people’s posts, instead of making a comment after their posts? Does this mean the moderator can modify what people say? Terrifying!!!
Second, I’m very interested in this new pledge of allegiance. Please, do go on!
It was a dark and stormy night . . .
Off topic! (cries the not moderator). Possible topics for today include: proof of vaccination and the spread of the Delta varient.
Splat!
Splat!
Unfortunately?
Otherwise, you’ll have to stay home and watch TV. Which is full societal participation for a lot of people in America.
The shoe has dropped and the first domino has fallen. Did the domino fall into the shoe?
I don’t know that you can move the entire state, but at least we finally got “Hamilton”. Alexander Hamilton!
That’s been true since 2008.
Yup, but as I pointed out before, it’s not unvaccinated Republicans you have to worry about in Davis, it’s the anti-vaxx, alternative medicine, conspirituality crowd. Doesn’t do much good to hunt game that is almost extinct in your area.
Good thing we know you point, because you didn’t make it.
Donald Trump is the second leading cause, vaxxed people believe. Hmmm . . . I wonder if he also caused the pandemic in India?
Agreed.
Why no outrage from the Vanguard or its commenters when a Democrat mayor instituted this racist policy which will result in disparate impacts to blacks?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/disparate-impact-bill-de-blasios-vaccine-passport-rule-is-racist-according-to-the-lefts-definition/ar-AAMTHNV
You’re just itching for a fight on this. The problem is: more people of color are impacted by COVID and people with less means have been slower to vaccinate than people with more means. The solution to that is not to attack commonsense public safety measures, it’s to put the resources into vaccinate more marginalized people. The right is hitting the wrong end of this. Because if we do nothing, the people most likely to get sick and die are marginalized communities.
So disparate impacts on people of color are okay as long as it’s for a policy that the left agrees with?
Duh… that was obvious from previous posts. But instead of calamine, you apply mosquito saliva. That’s gnat a winning formula…
See the 6:41 post… the ‘hook’ has been re-baited…
And the fish not only bit, but got gut-hooked…
I’m enjoying pointing out the hypocrisy because you know GD well if a Republican mayor or governor had implemented the same policy where the impacts would be greater on blacks than other races that the left would be pounding the table on this.
YOu’re actually just pointing out that you don’t understand the issues.
That was a lame non-answer. KO’s point is spot on and 100% correct.
As a nuanced-view non-partisan, this is clear as Davis spring sky before fire season. It amazes me the blindness that having entrenched political views inflicts upon the weakness of the human mind.
Thanks Alan, I took David’s reply as he doesn’t have a good answer to my point so he had to deflect.
Anyhoo . . . I basically agree with the article, except the requirement of cards doesn’t go far enough. Cards are forgeable. I mean seriously, what’s a bouncer to do but glance, not even check ID? There was initially going to be a system for a smart phone confirmation app being developed by Ticketmaster, that would confirm ID and vaccination status. What happened to that?
Then you are free not to vaccinate, and you lose your privileges to go into bars, restaurants, stores, concerts, fly, bus, train . . . pretty much anywhere you might infect human beings.
I don’t mean forever, I mean the moment the curve ticks up (not two weeks later when it’s too late), and when infection levels subside, the unvaccinated can get their full freedoms back.
Even I think this might be a bit heavy-handed, but there has to be a trigger-point where the levels are just too high to let the un-vaccinated have a heavy effect on the rest. I fully get not wanting to put a foreign substance into one’s bloodstream created by an evil pharmaceutical corporation. I weighed this against a possibly human-engineered bat virus created in a [geographical location deleted to avoid calls of racism] lab, or perhaps from someone eating bat soup in a [geographical location deleted to avoid calls of racism] open ‘wet’ market, and decided to tip the scales in favor of the evil corporation.
And the fact that — all contingencies, conspiracies and doubts aside — its pretty well documented that the vaccine reduces transmission and the seriousness of symptoms.
Hi Ho, Silver . . . Tinfoil Hat!
Democracy by choice allows these:
1) Protect a private business’s decision to require vaccination from its employees and/or its visiting customers.
2) Protect a private business’s decision to not require vaccination from employees and/or visiting customers
3) Protect a person’s access to the truth on a business’s vaccination decision (business’s are not required to provide vaccination information, but if they advertise that they require vaccination, it must be truthful)
4) Protect a person’s access to necessities regardless whether they choose to be vaccinated. (A city denying public services to unvaccinated need to refund correspond tax dollars of those denied services.)
5) Protect credibility of proof of vaccination and related certificates
The following violates democracy by choice:
1) Requiring all businesses employees to be vaccinated (instead of letting each business choose)
2) Requiring all customers to be vaccinated (instead of letting unvaccinated visit businesses that have no requirement)
3) Requiring all to fund vaccination, vaccination ID, testing (businesses can individually choose to sponsor)
4) Deny unvaccinated person of basic means of transportation (if they are denied public transportation, they need to be offered equivalent means of transportation.)