Hypocrisy
We have become accustomed to the pandemic. The recent increases in infections and deaths do not make any impression on most of us. The infected die quietly and alone. But until it affects someone closest to us, we deny it, pretend it is not there, preferring to think that life goes on as before.
The coronavirus has already caused over 124 thousand excess deaths in Poland. In Europe, this gives us an inglorious fourth place and twelfth in the world, after Russia - 870 thousand, the United States - 829 thousand, Brazil - 678 thousand, Mexico - 580 thousand, Iran - 255 thousand, South Africa - 229 thousand, Egypt - 208 thousand, Peru - 206 thousand, Colombia - 152 thousand, Italy - 146 thousand and Great Britain - 126 thousand. And if for these twelve leaders of the world death ranking these numbers were converted to the number of inhabitants, we would advance to fifth place after Peru, Russia, Mexico and South Africa.
Where we rank in the world rankings is irrelevant. What matters are the 124,000 unnecessary deaths. Not all of those who died were infected, but COVID killed them all. Some of them were suffocated, preventing them from breathing, others were sentenced to cancer or another comorbidity, others were denied a hospital bed, and still others were paralyzed with fear and discouraged from seeing a doctor.
Last year we were powerless. There was no cure for this filth. When vaccines appeared in January, it seemed that this was the beginning of a quick end to the virus and that after the holidays, we would start to forget that something like a pandemic had even happened. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's November and less than 54% of people have been vaccinated. We are at the back of Europe, in thirty-fifth place. Only the real stragglers are behind us - Croatia - 47%, Serbia - 45%, Slovakia - 43%, Kosovo - 43%, Montenegro - 40%, Romania - 38%, Russia - 38%, Macedonia - 38%, Albania - 33%, Belarus - 27%, Bulgaria - 25%, Ukraine - 25%, Moldova - 23%, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 22%.
Why are we Poles, a prudent, resourceful, caring and empathetic nation with a beautiful, centuries-old tradition, so unwise? Why, seeing so much suffering and death all around us, having a free, easily accessible solution at our fingertips, do we not want to protect ourselves and our loved ones?
People often say that it doesn't concern them. That they are strong and healthy. And above all, that they are young, and yet the virus only affects the elderly. Of course, it is true that it is mainly the elderly who die. Statistics on this subject are difficult to obtain, but in Poland last year, among people under 50 who died from COVID, less than 10% were. I am young and strong, so I will not die. Such thinking may be reasonable, but above all it is selfish. If you do not protect yourself, you will spread the virus and infect others, older and weaker than yourself. And if you end up in hospital, even if you do not die, because at your age and with your strength the probability of death is not high, you will temporarily occupy a bed that could save the life of someone more in need.
People also say that they are not sure whether vaccines are safe. That they were tested too briefly and too hastily. That it is not known whether they have any side effects. I am not talking about anti-vaccination flat-earthers, because you should not deal with morons at all. I mean those who feel a normal, human fear of vaccination and its negative impact on their own health and the health of their children. I will tell them this. Do not be afraid. Your fear is irrational. COVID has already killed 3 Poles out of every thousand, and vaccines have already been taken by over 3 billion people in the world, of whom a handful died as a result of complications after taking the vaccine, so it is probably wiser to protect yourself against the virus than against the vaccine.
Vaccination is the only way to defeat the virus. However, this method will only work when everyone or almost everyone is vaccinated. However, since such a large proportion of people do not want to be vaccinated, the only way to defeat the virus is to force those who do not want to be vaccinated to be vaccinated. The above thesis seems logical, not to say obvious, and yet it meets with strong resistance.
There are generally two ways to force those reluctant to vaccinate to get vaccinated. The most radical method is to make vaccinations mandatory with a criminal penalty for those who don't comply. The second method involves using more or less annoying methods that make life difficult for the unvaccinated.
Both methods obviously limit people's freedoms and rights. However, when you put human health and life on one scale, and freedom and rights on the other, there is no doubt in my mind that the former is the priority. In most European countries, this way of thinking is starting to win and more or less restrictive measures are being introduced for the unvaccinated. Austria was the first to introduce a full lockdown for the unvaccinated. If you are unvaccinated, you cannot leave your home - with three exceptions: grocery shopping, doctor's and work, and you will pay a €500 fine for breaking the ban. A bit like entering a gym or a cinema. Austria has also announced that it will be the first country in Europe to introduce mandatory vaccinations from the beginning of next year.
Poland is the only country in Europe that has not yet introduced any restrictions for the unvaccinated. Our government has adopted a strategy, the main and only point of which is based on the assumption to wait it out and not to prevent people from dying. Although the PiS party also put people's health and lives on one scale, the other was maintaining power for another term. It is not difficult to guess what prevailed. I will not be fooled by the nonsense they say about protecting the freedom and rights of the unvaccinated, and I am pissed off at these hypocrites, because if tomorrow I or someone close to me falls seriously ill, there may not be a hospital bed for us.
