Personally, I don't believe I would die from any of the variants. However, I got the vaccine because I don't want to become one of the infected with longer-term problems, including permanently reduced lung capacity.
Personally, I don't believe I would die from any of the variants. However, I got the vaccine because I don't want to become one of the infected with longer-term problems, including permanently reduced lung capacity.
It's particularly difficult to reason about probability of harm versus the value of exercising their freedom - if they choose to bear arms, for example, and harm people through poor execution, accidental discharge, or kids hurting themselves with found firearms around the home. It's like swinging your fist into the other man's nose and answering "oops, I meant to stop a millimeter short". Maybe you shouldn't be pointlessly swinging your fist in the first place, go find a punching bag somewhere safe instead. It's even more difficult when you want to compel someone to take positive action instead of preventing them from doing something prohibited.
Personally, I don't believe I would die, either. I understand that the possibility of long-term problems is also low, though as an athlete I really value my lung capacity. However, I work with, am friends with, and am related to a lot of people who have far more risk. I believe I would be morally culpable if I failed to wear a mask, socially distance, or get the vaccine, and transmitted the pandemic to someone who did suffer from the illness.
You have the freedom to do what you want with your body but when it impacts me then that freedom stops being absolute and becomes more nuanced. If you don't want to be vaccinated then that's fine, but you're not allowed to put me at risk with your choice.
I almost compare it to drunk driving laws. You can get as drunk as you want at home. But when you get into a car, your choices start to impact everyone else, and your right to get as drunk as you want and die in a single-car accident is trumped by my right to not be subject to undue risk when I'm in public. Even if the risk is low, maybe you've driven drunk 1000 times and never killed anyone, my right to be safe trumps your right to drive drunk.
The cigarette industry argued this for years past the discovery of passive smoking.
In fact I'd say a large amount of 20th century industrial history has been discovering the long list of things that shave bits and pieces off the lives of people in aggregate and banning them - in the face of opposition saying they have a right to emit this and denying the harm.
Serious movie spoiler alert: this is literally what Soderbergh's latest film is about
Respiratory function in patients post-infection by COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
DOI: 10.1016/j.pulmoe.2020.10.013