I’ve been against you, your mother and me getting the COVID-19 vaccination ever since talk of it began. I’m not an anti-vaxxer. I just don’t blindly trust big business. Every employer or client of mine has always made decisions that were in its best interest. That’s okay. They owe it to their shareholders. But knowing how things typically work, we won’t be quickly jumping on the bandwagon. Also, I don’t think it’s necessary. COVID-19 is not Ebola, we’re not part of a high-risk group and we always take precautions to protect us and everyone around us when going out.
People can be idiots, including me. I think many of the people, ex high-risk and those in close contact with them, who have already taken the COVID-19 vaccine either did so out of fear or gullibility. I’m not a White House insider, but it had obviously created a campaign to convince everyone to get the vaccine as its representatives regurgitated the same talking points from the get-go, over and over again. That was in the economic best interest of the country (and their job security), but not necessarily in an individual’s best interest. They talked all about the vaccines’ efficacy and likelihood to keep a recipient out of the ICU, but not much was said about exactly what emergency use authorization (EUA) meant. Zero liability. Meaning, neither the U.S. government nor manufacturer can ever be held accountable if its vaccine causes adverse reactions. For example, that’s almost like getting a speeding ticket on a road that doesn’t have posted speed limit signs. You should have known. So, I found the entire effort disgusting, regardless.
You might think that big businesses have a great incentive to put their best foot forward. But they don’t. They’re not humanitarians. They’re not tree huggers. Their only responsibility is to make ‘dat paper. Many people might find that wrong, even outright evil. Yet, fail to realize they’re an enabler. We all like to see those 401Ks go up, no?
Let’s take Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), for example. It’s one of the world’s largest multinational corporations that develops consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Recently, JNJ was one of a handful of companies that developed a COVID-19 vaccination, which your grandfather took soon after it was approved for emergency use. He didn’t have a choice. But, little-known, JNJ was also the defendant in a series of lawsuits spanning decades concerning claims the talc used in its baby powder can cause cancer. Despite its own internal documents that showed positive findings in favor of that conclusion and an effort to hide evidence of asbestos from the FDA, JNJ adamantly denied the plaintiffs’ claims. The case finally reached its conclusion last month, on June 1st, as JNJ’s appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. This is just one example, but there are many more. Some might say things like that don’t happen anymore. I think they’re gullible.
Does it make me selfish because I don’t want to get a COVID-19 vaccine? A friend of mine had recently asked me that question of him because that’s what most of his friends thought. I told him, no … and that those people should go fuck themselves. If they really cared about the wellbeing of others then I think it’d be better to start calling out people for not washing their hands after using the toilet. From my own observations, damn near 50% of men don’t do it. Women aren’t innocent, either. Some claim that they don’t touch their junk, but they’re part idiot. That’s not the point. It’s about everything else both men or women touched since their last hand washing. Nevertheless, should something go wrong post-vaccination, do you really think someone else is going to help foot the bill? You are responsible for your own decisions.
So, I don’t want you, your mother and me to get a vaccine at least until its proven or necessary, but it’s not as if I’ve been in a position to reject any opportunities. Most, if not, every time the development of a new COVID-19 vaccination made headlines last year, the Communist Party of Vietnam was quick to say that it’s in the process of securing a substantial number of doses. Then, during the last outbreak earlier this year, former Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (now President) of the Communist Party had admitted, in other words, that nothing had been done to secure any vaccinations as he had finally ordered the Ministry of Health to move forward with procurement. And come May, still nothing. The Communist Party of Vietnam failed its people.
But just because I don’t want for us to get the vaccine until my conditions are met, doesn’t mean we won’t get it. Your mother and I started to talk about getting the vaccine today. That’s not due to a change of heart, rather it’s a mitigation strategy. Similar to how the Communist Party of Vietnam imposed mandatory COVID-19 testing, which pissed me off, I think it’s possible that it could also force everyone to get the vaccine when there’s an adequate supply. If we hold-out and that happens, rather than getting the AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, it’s likely that the Communist Party of Vietnam would give us Nanocovax, the homegrown one. I really don’t want that cheap, inferior Vietnamese crap going into our bodies. The best decision might be to bite the bullet because freedom doesn’t exist in a communist country.
The Communist Party of Vietnam took every opportunity to gloat about how well it had done to contain COVID-19 in 2020, as compared to the U.S. and other developed countries. It should have been humble. Whereas many people, locals and expats, drank its kool-aid, I didn’t. You can ask your mother because she had to deal with my rage against her country’s government. Rather than placing the blame on European tourists, illegal Chinese or so-called foreign experts, for example, it should have held itself accountable because of its policy and enforcement failures. Don’t get me started on foreign experts. President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc should have been outed.
I never quite understood how closing the borders was the solution to eradicating the virus because the Communist Party of Vietnam has never been able to stop illegal crossings. 31,460 people were detained last year for that infraction, according to its own statistics. Those are just the unlucky ones.
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