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Comment by joeman1000 | Hacker News Reader

We are forced to in Australia. I was barred from taking exams this semester since I didn’t have the vaccine. Others lose their jobs. There is no freedom of choice there. It’s a gun wrapped in a blanket.

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This is what fascism looks like. The totalitarians are winning. It is sad that freedom means nothing anymore to these people...

That was 2021, nowadays no one here gives a crap whether you're vaxed or boosted or even wearing a mask or not.

Covid deaths are higher now in the US than this time a year ago and nobody gives a shit. Half the country demonized the other half of the country for reaching the same state of indifference 6-8 months earlier than they did.

> Half the country demonized the other half of the country

And also demonized Australia - "fascist"! "authoritarian"! - for being 6 months behind in COVID and still giving a shit when the USA already didn't. For us in Australia, early 2020 was 6 months of the USA looking like a disaster movie while almost noone had it here.

But did Australia's draconian lockdowns actually even accomplish anything other than delaying the inevitable? Hasn't COVID been going strong there since Christmas, despite everything they put their citizens through?

Pretty much, ripping through my city now. There isn't a lot of sentiment for liberty/freedoms here, so the authoritarians had a field day. We'll probably do it all again next time too.

What is life but delaying the inevitability of death? ;) It's not an unreasonable question, and with 20/20 hindsight some of the more draconian restrictions possibly wouldn't be justifiable. But we did take it very very seriously and saved ourselves the nightmarish scenes seen in many other countries that put extreme levels of strain on healthcare systems and robbed huge numbers of people's lives prematurely. Of the deaths now, the vast majority are among those 80+, and those who have chosen not to get vaccinated. Hospitalisations are still high, and negatively impacting the health care system's ability to provide quality care, but epidemiologists seem confident it will peak soon even without heavy handed restrictions/ mandates. There's no doubt we could have dealt with it better but I'm still grateful our governments generally listened to the health advice given to them.

Immigration does, unfortunately.

It's crazy how Australians have sold out their rights in an attempt at "unity", or whatever the political theme is these days. In the US, with the 2A, no one could force anybody to take dangerous chemicals.

Have you guys looked into COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme? https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-...

Basically, you’re entitled for compensation if you’re in Australia and was forced to get a COVID-19 vaccine and had moderate to severe vaccine-related adverse events.

Er, no, we're not. Certain businesses and government organisations require you to be vaccinated to undertake certain roles. Just as they impose any number of other requirements in order for you to receive the benefits of gainful employment. Nobody has been so much as threatened with arrest or had any physical force applied in order to ensure they get vaccinated.

Sounds like you made a choice, a poor one. We are also "forced" to wear seatbelts in cars and not drink-drive. For some reason I don't hear those things described as "no freedom of choice" or the ludicrous "gun wrapped in a blanket". Drink-driving is the closer analogy of the two, as the harm extends to other people, as in vaccine refusal. Can you imagine hearing the drink-driving laws described as "a gun wrapped in a blanket"?! It would be ludicrous because the death is on the other side of the equation - deaths are being prevented. How is vaccine refusal different?

This specific vaccine doesn't stop the spread especially of the current dominant variants (still seeing plenty of spread among vaccinated people in ~90% vaccinated populations), so the comparison to drunk driving (putting other people at risk) is poor.

This is specific to the current covid vaccines. It's a valid point for highly effective vaccines like the polio vaccine which should be mandatory.

Because the deaths prevented are debatable, that is why. Should we be forced to get every vaccine? Even vaccines that are not effective? Who decides that?

What if the institutions mandating vaccines have a conflict of interest?

Very few people are actually so selfish or ignorant that they would not get an effective vaccine.

If everyone, including you and your children, started taking the aids antivirals daily, we could probably eradicate aids, or atleast save millions of lives. Are you willing to take them daily to make sure you or your children don't spread aids someday?

Its absurd to require vaccination but not accept actual infection as such. Surviving an actual infection offers better immunity than the vaccine. The failure to ack this is evidence IMHO of an agenda.

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