Ross Douthat's indictment of America's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a prize example of the perfect promoted as the enemy of the good. As a matter of fact the US record on vaccination is pretty good. The problem is that as things turned out, vaccines could not shut down the virus. What they could do, however, was mitigate the seve…
Ross Douthat's indictment of America's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a prize example of the perfect promoted as the enemy of the good. As a matter of fact the US record on vaccination is pretty good. The problem is that as things turned out, vaccines could not shut down the virus. What they could do, however, was mitigate the severity of infection and that has saved countless lives.
At the present moment, those in America who are most likely to die of COVID are the unvaccinated: mostly people who choose not to take the vaccine. I find myself asking what Mr. Douthat's "we" can do to make people get jabbed. Not much, unfortunately. Mandates are not only obnoxious but ultimately counterproductive. So if vaccine resisters are prepared to live—and possibly die—with their choice, that's on them.
I believe that we've reached a point at which the war on COVID is doing more damage to the fabric of American society that the virus itself. The terrible effect on this country's children, who've had their lives disrupted by lockdowns and school closures that we now know to have been futile and destructive, is only the most glaring example of the havoc wrecked. Mr. Douthat might pause to reflect on that.
Ross Douthat's indictment of America's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a prize example of the perfect promoted as the enemy of the good. As a matter of fact the US record on vaccination is pretty good. The problem is that as things turned out, vaccines could not shut down the virus. What they could do, however, was mitigate the severity of infection and that has saved countless lives.
At the present moment, those in America who are most likely to die of COVID are the unvaccinated: mostly people who choose not to take the vaccine. I find myself asking what Mr. Douthat's "we" can do to make people get jabbed. Not much, unfortunately. Mandates are not only obnoxious but ultimately counterproductive. So if vaccine resisters are prepared to live—and possibly die—with their choice, that's on them.
I believe that we've reached a point at which the war on COVID is doing more damage to the fabric of American society that the virus itself. The terrible effect on this country's children, who've had their lives disrupted by lockdowns and school closures that we now know to have been futile and destructive, is only the most glaring example of the havoc wrecked. Mr. Douthat might pause to reflect on that.