Fear the Problem or Solution

By David Pepin

Many people right now have shown a lot of resilience in these pandemic times that are before us, what controls us right now is the fear or frustration? The protests for everyone are coming out in droves and what happens is either spreading of that virus more or fights and a government that has finally listen for once needs time, not more anger. At the beginning of the pandemic, many felt like this man, “Will I get it? Should I avoid seeing my elderly relatives? Where can I find some toilet paper?” (Winch).  Fear was around the world when this spread and will keep being there until there is a way to fight the virus.  When people see that on the news other countries are opening their state from lockdown they get frustrated and protest as a vaccine might be here a lot longer when people like Fauci describe that, “Officials like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, estimate a vaccine could arrive in at least 12 to 18 months.” (Thompson).  This is just going to phase one could take years and that distribution way longer to like 2031, so maybe taking a load off and doing something different in these hard times instead of doing something wrong.  Although this is true people are protesting and some getting what they want even though no vaccine has been made and there are hundreds of therapies and 95 vaccines that are related to COVID-19 looked at right now as to come out faster than 11 years (Thompson).  Even when you see these facts people go out and protest for some reason as people are putting their lives on the line to help people not be in this state of fear. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs described the people protesting this week as, “The people behind the rally are founders of a group, the Freedom Angels Foundation, which is best known in California for its opposition to state efforts to mandate vaccinations.”  This can’t be whereas a people we are headed that we can’t see a good thing in front of us and if you don’t want the vaccination don’t get vaccinated.  That should be the end of it but people feed of anxiety as controlling one’s fear and just get a checkup if you’re truly having problems has been there for months.  This can be understandable why un vaccination frenzies came out when Guy Winch said, “For the vast majority of us, the threat is still uncertain, like a storm cloud of “what if’s hanging over our heads. We don’t know if we’ll be exposed to the virus or not; if we are exposed, we don’t know if we’ll get symptoms or not; and if we do get symptoms, we don’t know if we’ll able to recover from them.”  I understand that people are afraid to vaccinate your child but making a big deal about it isn’t right for other people’s rights to not want this virus at this time protesting and spreading most likely the virus.  Even though this is obvious Munoz Gleisner said, “From Day 1, it’s been difficult that we’re always castigated as anti-vaccine, and these protests are castigated as anti-lockdown. We have always been about freedom.” (Burroughs). This virus has made people go nuts to live in a society that can’t take other people’s ideas into account when all you need to do is say no. Even when the Supreme court just said, “But on Monday, the court will break with history twice: hearing the first of 10 cases that will be argued in a telephone conference call, and letting the public listen in.” (Liptak).  This doesn’t worry you more that the government will not talk to unless it is over the phone but getting a vaccination scares you that could most likely save your life.  The idea that the government is also willing to do this means just call in and ask hey I don’t think we should be in this lockdown please uplift the lockdown but no one would listen to that I hope because take your medicine prescribed to you.  The non-vaccinators even could lose their moment in history when Adam Liptak said, “The justices may not return to the bench in October if the virus is still a threat, as several of them are in the demographic group thought to be most at risk.”  Come October hopefully this event will be figured out but as I have shown that will be a long time for people to stop and just listen that people can do what they want. The people you’re shouting at could be gone and who will listen to you then? Especially when professionals like, “Dr. Limaye, the scientist, said she and her colleagues who encourage families to vaccinate children have found the presence of vaccination skeptics at protests “terrifying,” not only because it could encourage families to forgo traditional shots but because it could spell disaster for any future coronavirus vaccine.” (Burroughs).  Even if the people are right about non-vaccination how is it freedom when most of this goes against other people’s freedom to not want to and stay in fear of the thousands that have died?  This just goes to show that when people don’t trust the government, they do things that shouldn’t be done and miss bigger issues.  People need to understand it will get worse before it gets better or maybe just work together and might make it out alive.  Have we been in the real lockdown yet?  Is the situation with the Supreme Court good with people calling the government to talk?

Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas. “Anti-Vaccination Activists Are Growing Force at Virus Protests.” The New York Times. The New York Times, May 3, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/anti-vaxxers-coronavirus-protests.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage.

Liptak, Adam. “Virus Pushes a Staid Supreme Court Into Revolutionary Changes.” The New York Times. The New York Times, May 3, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/politics/supreme-court-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage.

Thompson, Stuart A. “How Long Will a Vaccine Really Take?” The New York Times. The New York Times, April 30, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/30/opinion/coronavirus-covid-vaccine.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage.

Winch, Guy. “Dear Guy: ‘I’m Incredibly Anxious about Coronavirus. What Can I Do?”.” ideas.ted.com. ideas.ted.com, April 6, 2020. https://ideas.ted.com/dear-guy-im-incredibly-anxious-about-coronavirus-what-can-i-do/.