I am totally fed up. My wife needs surgery and we are being told that it will be three or four months before she can get it because our local hospital system is overwhelmed with unvaccinated victims of COVID-19.

It seems to me that a vaccine refuser is like a person who drives, on purpose, the wrong way down a one-way street expecting any costs suffered by the victims of any resulting crashes, as well as any fines and tickets the driver may receive, will all be paid by the victims.

The people that are refusing to get vaccinated have overwhelmed our hospitals, putting our medical system into an ongoing crisis mode. They are preventing the nation from getting control of COVID infections. They are prolonging the impact of the disease on the economy, to say nothing of its effect on the lives of ordinary people. In a way, they are COVID’s biggest boosters.

Why? Because they refuse to get a simple one-second shot of a needle in the arm. The vaccine has proven to be almost totally effective in preventing serious COVID complications and death in the more than 60% of adult Americans that have received at least one shot. What do these vaccine refusers use to justify their position. Is it a valid medical reason? No. Is it a fact-based fear of complications? No.

Most of their opposition is based on a relatively recent political position — that it restricts their own personal freedom and represents too much “government control.” How do these people reconcile their position on this when it is the government that has seen that over 90% of children in this country have already received vaccines for polio, measles, mumps, chicken pox and other highly infectious diseases. Is it too much “government control” to have laws against driving without a license, against taking items from stores and others without paying for them, against assaulting or killing other people. These types of laws were created to promote the general welfare and to give us an open, successful society.

How can we fix this problem? It is obvious that our spineless politicians, whose only responsibility seems to be to current party doctrine, will be unable to stop pandering to the vocal minority. The idea that they would create a law that would protect us all is beyond imagining.

It would seem that now is the time for serious action. Vaccine refusers should bear the consequences of their actions, not the rest of society. Three possible solutions are:

1. Many businesses are using various means to encourage their employees to get vaccinated or face serious employment prospects.

2. When someone who refuses a COVID shot gets the disease they should bear some or all of the cost of their medical care. As a matter of fact, this is already starting to take place. Several insurance companies that initially agreed to completely cover all COVID expenses are now imposing copays and coverage limits on those who refuse the vaccine.

3. Hospitals should return to normal care and occupancy levels for patients with the usual illnesses that require hospital care. Only then would people that refuse to take COVID shots be accepted as patients. In other words, they would move from being the first admitted to being the last.

The sooner we all do whatever is necessary to beat this disease, the sooner we can return to normal.

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