Here's Why The Unvaccinated Have No 'Right' To Show Up In Public

DALLAS, TX — Maybe it's time for the silent folks to speak up.

They're the ones who got the vaccine as soon as it was available. They were the first to put on a mask and keep it in place until they're in a spot they know is safe to remove it. No, they're not "sheeple," as the unvaccinated and the lunatic fringe likes to claim. They just care more about society in general —and the individual people who make it up — than you do.

Want to be the first to know about Patch membership when it launches? Click here to find out how you can support Patch and local journalism.

They don't go around bleating that it's their "right" to do as they please, regardless of the consequences. They don't consider vaccination proof, or so-called "passports" an intrusion on their sacred right to do whatever they want whenever they want. They're following the best science available (not fantastical nonsense spread by conspiracy theorists), and they don't criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci or health experts for adjusting their recommendations based on newly acquired evidence.

Over on Fox, where people like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are still telling viewers that it's all a left-wing plot to make you cower in fear, you know what's happening behind the cameras? The network that's spewing misinformation like a busted sewer pipe has its own health protocols in place — which means that Carlson and his cronies are pushing their crapola out over the airwaves while the very people operating the cameras and in the control room are masked.

Throughout May, June and July, stories appeared regularly on the Dallas Patch site saying that area health care professionals were worried about the deadly race between the number of vaccinated Texans and the delta variant. And then we all watched as vaccination sites slowed to a trickle and closed while infections increased exponentially.

And now, the same people who consider masks a personal affront and refuse to get vaccinated demand that they should be able to go see the band Maroon 5, when those presenting the show want vaccination proof to be a condition of entry.

No, you shouldn't be able to see Maroon 5. You shouldn't be in a society if all you care about is your individual rights. You shouldn't be able to see anyone or anything anywhere, because your hubris is so great that you believe it's your prerogative to infect people — some of whom could die because of your arrogance.

You should be able to see out your window, order groceries, work from home and stay away from the rest of us. That's what you should have the freedom to do. I know I wouldn't have gotten COVID-19 last month if the unvaccinated hadn't allowed delta and other variants to gain a foothold in the United States.

Oh, I was told by an anti-vaxxer that I could have been infected by someone who was vaccinated just like I was. Yes, sunshine, that's true. But eventually, it all tracks back to unvaccinated people mingling with vaccinated people who are helping to create evermore-resilient variants of the virus. And if that continues long enough, the vaccines will start to fail. At this point, they already don't protect people from getting infected as well as they did six months ago. They only prevent serious illness, possible hospitalization — and death.

So, like a number of Texans who did the right thing when it was time to roll up your sleeve and take the vaccine, I've lost sympathy for people who live in a fantasy where more than 55,000 dead Texans is a hoax and COVID-19 is no worse than the flu.

Someone once defined freedom by saying, "Your rights end where my nose begins." And that's the way it should be. You don't want to contribute to ending the pandemic? That's your choice. But don't start telling the rest of us that you have the right to circulate your carelessness and flout your selfish behavior around the metroplex or vacation anyplace that strikes you.

You should be confined to quarters, where you can enjoy all the freedom you want, and the rest of us don't have to worry where you'll show up demanding your right to cough, sneeze and spread particles of the virus — say by singing along with Adam Levine and Maroon 5, for example.

That "right" should be reserved for people who care about each other and are trying to end this pandemic, rather than asserting that individual freedom supersedes the public good.

Looking for more Dallas news? Subscribe.