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Column: Anti-vaxxers allege ‘workplace discrimination’ but ignore their duty to avoid undue harm

A protest of vaccine mandates in businesses drew counter-protestors with a sign supporting vaccinations in August.
An August protest by the America’s Healthcare Workers for Medical Freedom against vaccination mandates in business was held at Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Counter-protestors demonstrated across the street supporting the mandates.
(Brittany Cruz-Fejeran/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Most San Diegans have taken COVID-19 seriously and continue to do so to protect our community; don’t let a vocal minority distract from that

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Whenever I write about COVID-19 and vaccinations, I inevitably get a comment from at least one reader arguing that my column lacks an anti-vaxxer perspective.

They aren’t entirely off in that assessment. Although I will typically summarize the arguments anti-vaxxers make, I rarely directly quote them for a very simple reason that I freely share with readers.

I believe in science and modern medicine, and I refuse to platform someone just for them to spout unfounded, ill-advised, anti-science sentiments. I also tell those inquiring readers that in the event I do note the anti-vaxxer views, I feel that it’s my responsibility — and the responsibility of anyone who has a platform — to do so in a thoughtful way with plenty of context around it.

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Now I’m under no illusions that me doing that changes much in the grand scheme of things, and it may even turn off some of those who need some convincing about getting vaccinated. But it does allow me to say that my writing doesn’t cause additional harm because I’m not giving a roadmap for others to join the anti-vaxxer crusade or giving their cause legitimacy.

It’s funny, because the idea of avoiding undue harm not only guides many of my decisions as columnist, but it’s also at the heart of why I find the whole anti-vaccine fervor so frustrating — which was something I was reminded of because of anti-vaxxer activity over the past few days.

On Sunday the Orange County Register and the San Francisco Chronicle ran full-page ads sponsored by an anti-vaccine group, ads that featured images of two nurses and the words, “Courage is still beautiful even if unvaccinated.” The ads, which were highlighted by an internet sleuth, are part of a larger campaign backed by a failed gubernatorial candidate with the intent of “bringing awareness to workplace discrimination due to vaccine noncompliance.”

Then on Tuesday San Diego Rostra ran an opinion piece by an unidentified person who said they are a San Diego police officer, who argued that the city’s mandate requiring all city employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 1 was “dangerous.” The officer contends that the mandate will lead to the firing of hundreds of police officers, firefighters, 911 dispatchers and civilian employees who would rather be fired than get vaccinated.

The officer argues this, in turn, will lead to chaos and crime in San Diego, and he alleges that the vaccine mandate and other COVID protocols are evidence of discrimination.

As evidence of his claim of “clear discrimination” he pointed to the city’s policy of requiring unvaccinated staff to wear masks in the workplace and in city vehicles, while vaccinated individuals do not face the same requirements.

“SDPD supervisors were seen and heard across the Department harping on unvaccinated officers to put on their masks,” the unidentified officer wrote. “Supervisors were seen with clipboards and notepads taking notes on who was not following orders. Some officers refused to mask up and were given discipline.”

Now, setting aside my concerns with how the Chronicle, Register and Rostra chose to use their platforms, let’s address the odd argument anti-vaxxers are now making about “workplace discrimination.”

Discrimination occurs when various categories of people are treated unjustly or prejudicially because of their differences. These differences that are the targets of scorn also overwhelmingly are aspects of a person that are intrinsic to who they are, things they have no control over, such as their age, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, disability, parental status, etc.

Vaccination status is something you have a choice in, full stop. It is also something that affects the public health of everyone.

If you have a legitimate medical reason or a faith-based reason for not getting vaccinated, there is some grace that should be afforded to you and there are exceptions for those reasons under the law.

But this anti-vaxxer crusade is not really about workplace discrimination. If it were, all these people would have been raising alarms about all the kinds of discrimination that actually do occur in the workplace, targeting those categories I previously mentioned.

For example, earlier this year I wrote about ageism and how it impacts the workplace, referring to a gentleman who was forced out of a technology job because of his age. It’s funny that we don’t see these people rallying around the issue of age discrimination, which is pervasive.

That anti-vaxxers have the nerve to make this argument not only reflects how insincere they are, but also how incredibly entitled they are, especially in the eyes of people who have experienced real discrimination in their lives.

The fact that some officer thought it was discrimination for their boss to ask employees to follow what is essentially a workplace, public health policy is laughable — especially when it involved a supervisor simply asking someone to wear mask. That would be like losing your mind because your company doesn’t allow you to smoke in the office.

Given this extreme reaction, I pray that this officer never experiences real discrimination in the workplace, like someone calling them a racial or sexist slur, mocking their faith or preventing them from getting a promotion because of their age or gender.

As far as the other aspect of this argument, the implication that city employees, including police officers, are threatening to quit over a vaccine requirement is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. If these people are willing to follow through on that threat, it will certainly cause challenges for our community.

But that shouldn’t stop public officials and the city from standing firm because, at the end of the day, this has always been fundamentally about avoiding undue harm, and that is something the anti-vaxxers avoid addressing.

We shouldn’t allow a group of people who are prioritizing their own self interest to hold our community hostage, especially when more than 700,000 Americans, 70,500 Californians and 4,170 San Diegans have died because of this cruel virus.

We owe it to those we lost and the vulnerable in our community to continue to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously, and it’s important to remember that most of us have.

These anti-vaxxers are a vocal minority and they do not represent the perspectives and actions of most Americans.

Eligible Americans are vaccinated at a rate of 3 to 1, with 188 million Americans fully vaccinated and roughly 66 million eligible Americans remaining unvaccinated as of Oct. 15, according to the CDC. About 80 percent of eligible San Diego County residents — some 2.2 million people — were vaccinated as of Oct. 14, according to the county.

So thank you to those of you who have been selfless, thoughtful community members and good neighbors. Please remember that you’re not alone.

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