Americans can unite and vaccinate to defeat pandemic

The unvaccinated are not idiots. They have been conned, and I feel sorry for them.

There are a few who have legitimate health reasons to not get vaccinated, but that number is far fewer than the number of unvaccinated. The reasons most have for not getting vaccinated are rooted in the fear of the unknown and misinformation.

I am unfortunately limited by 400 words, and cannot cover all of the science and history here, but I will highlight a few points.

Vaccines as a technology have been around for more than 200 years, and have come a long way since the 1700s. During an outbreak of smallpox in the winter of 1776-77, Gen. George Washington ordered all of his troops inoculated against the disease, which was a new process at the time that scared many people. His decision ultimately saved his army from being decimated by the disease, which could have cost them the American Revolution that laid the foundations of our great nation.

You owe your freedoms in part to this technology.

Smallpox and polio have both been eliminated through vaccination. Measles, mumps and rubella were all on their way out until the recent anti-vax movement. Herd immunity works, but only once a critical percentage of the population has been vaccinated. We are currently failing to reach this point.

I chose to get vaccinated to do my part to protect my country and my fellow citizens, no matter their beliefs. Choosing to or not to get vaccinated affects more people than yourself. I am not refuting your right to choose to vaccinate, but choosing not to leads to further suffering and weakening of our nation. As a species, we have used science and collective might to defeat diseases in the past, and we can do it again.

I want you to fight against the horrid beast that has killed 700,000 of your fellow American citizens. This pandemic can end once we all band together and fight as one.

In the spirit of the revolutionaries who fought for our independence. In the spirit of those Americans who banded together to fight their way out of the Great Depression and defeat the threat of authoritarianism on two fronts. In the spirit of humanity, we must fight, and fight together.

I urge the unvaccinated to choose to fight to protect their nation and their families.

Delton Claggett