COVID-19 Vaccine Passports and the Computer State
How Pushback Against Government Vaccine Mandates Misses the Grand Dilemma
According to most reports, just more than half of the adult population in the US has been vaccinated for COVID-19. And as explained in my related piece, What if Facebook Required COVID-19 Vaccines and Passports, this is right on par with the number of people who get the flu shot every year. Why then is the government pushing for mandates and passports, and even more importantly, why are we so concerned about the government overreaching its boundaries when we continue to trade in our personal liberties and freedoms with BigTech?
A Brief History of Vaccine Mandates and Passports in the US
Supporters of mandated vaccinations as well as vaccine passports point to the fact that both have been a part of American society for generations. Children attending public school are required to have several vaccinations and some careers carry basic vaccine requirements for adults. Even vaccine passports aren’t a new invention.
During the Smallpox pandemic of the early 1900s, vaccine passports were enforced throughout the country. Doctors would accompany police to patrol public transportation, private businesses and even personal homes checking to see if people were vaccinated. People found to be unvaccinated would often be vaccinated on the spot and those who refused were unable to enter the country, find employment, or even go to social clubs.
At the time, the Smallpox virus was sweeping the country and one type of infection, variola minor, had a very low mortality rate - less than 1%. But the other strain, variola major, had an estimated mortality rate of 30%, often claiming the life of an infected person within two weeks.
The mortality rate for COVID-19 is still being studied and, since scientific methodology and tracking have advanced so much, we’re able to look at the mortality rate differently. The mortality rate for COVID is not standard across the board. Older people, those with certain underlying health conditions all have a relatively high mortality rate (up to 25%) while the mortality rate of healthy people under the age of 65 is extremely low (less than 1%). The World Health Organization has released data showing the average mortality rate worldwide is around 3.4%. (For comparison, the seasonal flu kills less than 1% of those infected)
There’s another big difference between the proposed vaccine passports of today compared to their earlier counterparts: mobility and connectivity.
The world of 2021 is not a mirror of the one a century ago. We are connected and mobile to a degree simply never imagined at that time. Our professional and personal lives are intertwined to the point of interdependency / singularity / (SOMETHING ELSE) Restricting a person’s movements and ability to interact with society restricts their agency to a degree not seen previously.
That connectivity includes being able to share information and experiences as well. During the smallpox epidemic - or, later, the Spanish Flu - in a given community there might have been a handful of people who did not want to be vaccinated. Today that may still be true, but those pockets are not isolated and unconnected - they’re converging online, offering support, insight and advice.
Government Overreach and the BigTech Oligarchy
This isn’t about vaccines themselves, it’s about government overreach. Mandates have traditionally been a state issue and the federal mandates being discussed today are not only bypassing those state level rights, they are effectively relegating nearly half the population to a second class - people who suddenly can’t pursue their chosen career, attend a school, or simply walk into a store because they don’t have The Card.
But this dilemma is a mere symptom of the larger problem, which is that we, the people, have already delegated our power to the BigMedia and BigTech Oligarchy, i.e., Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. These “walled gardens'' of the Internet are already our overlords that we feed and perpetuate every day. You could even include telecom companies such Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast in this group. Our government is only trying to catch-up.
So while on the surface, half the US population is clashing against government tyranny, the irony is that we have become a lay-down for BigTech, which in fact is the authority we should be equally if not more concerned about. The US Constitution provides protective measures against government tyranny, but it does not protect us from these oligarchies in the private sector.
This is why you should care about what I have to say and subscribe.
If you want to protect your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, your best play is going to be finding ways to limit the power of BigTech in your life. You will have to find ways where the power is transferred back to the people.
The vaccine passport matter is only an extension of this overreach, not the start of it. And certainly not the end of it. Which is why we must always be quipped and prepared to stand up for what we believe in. If you don’t, then somebody else will.