Good morning fellow bloggers and casual readers! I am grateful to be in the position to commission other creators in an effort to provide content. And I am so thankful for Ramsha the Great, in her expert and skillful writing as a open contributor to my blog. The following is her piece in total. And dude you can now listen to it because it is now available through Anchor Podcasting! Although I wish the voice over sounded more like Issa Rae or Jenifer Lewis!

Written by Ramsha, Pakistan

Edited by Felicia M. Baxter MD MBA

One of the founding principles of the USA was liberty and individual freedom, that everyone had a fundamental right to choose what they want without being coerced into it. However, these very ideals were a contributing factor to the first anti-vax movement against smallpox vaccines that emerged barely two decades after the country had achieved its independence. Three centuries later, they present a similar challenge for vaccination efforts against COVID-19.

In conservative states across the USA, individual freedoms take precedence over government vaccine mandates with governors outlawing them along with vaccine passports. Libertarians uphold their ideals to the extent of dying in their name, despite being fully aware that in a pandemic, one man’s freedoms could lead to another man’s death and yet they deny this fact as they defy government orders to get vaccinated. The political rhetoric of conservative leaders is what sustains these notions, their words often going completely against the advice of public health officials. Conservative fervor is then compounded by skepticism in the efficacy of vaccines which is labeled as poison for the body’s natural immune system.

With conservative states holding on to their ideals as the majority of Covid patients hold on to dear life in their hospitals, the responsibility falls over to private entities which through vaccine requirements for employment and recreational activities, for instance, are encouraging people to reluctantly overcome their vaccine hesitancy and that is the determining factor for the success of vaccination drives, not only in these states but across the country. Will it take the health system crashing around our ears, not really recovering from the beginning? What is happening in Russia and the former Eastern Bloc could happen here, as we still pass anti-public health measures to the chagrin of the professionals.

Ultimately, as responsible and functioning members of society we have a responsibility to one another, not to invade another space, but also if we are honest to protect each others health. This is one way. And personally I am real tired of wearing a mask because you won’t do what is necessary to beat this scourge back. So what are you going to do?