COVID vaccinations — a question of character for leaders
“You will have blood on your hands!”
That is how one member of the audience confronted a friend of mine who spoke against an El Dorado County Board of Supervisors resolution opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a resolution that was, unfortunately, approved Nov. 16.
In that “blood on your hands” statement we can hear the tribalism, driven by primal fear, which has infected our society.
Endless recitation of falsehoods and conspiracy theories is not surprising, I suppose. But what was shocking was the admission by Board Chairman John Hidahl that he has not been vaccinated against the coronavirus and that “vaccines don’t work.”
Ignorance and cowardice, passing as leadership, is what we witnessed in our Board of Supervisors that day.
The late, great U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was fond of reminding us, “We are all entitled to our own opinions, but not to our own facts.” He would be unwelcome in El Dorado County were he around to make that case locally.
Our supervisors, “led” (and I use the term loosely) by Hidahl, were pushed into their position by a loud, radical and well-organized collection of county residents — a minority bent on instilling fear in the rest of us. Their weapons are hysteria and lies. They weave conspiracy theories out of myths and misinformation.
As a point of reference, let’s go back to Sen. Moynihan’s admonition about not confusing opinions with facts.
In early November, the Texas Department of Health Services — Texas, I repeat ‚ red, conservative Texas — revealed that both infection and mortality rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated people are vastly different.
Key findings from the Texas study showed that Sept. 4 through Oct. 1 of this year:
- Unvaccinated people were 13 times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people.
- Unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to experience COVID-19-associated death than fully vaccinated people.
Don’t believe Texans? How about authorities in another rural county in California then?
Shasta County, to our north, presents an interesting case study:
- Among a population of just fewer than 80,000 fully vaccinated people (between early August of this year and early November), there were 42 people hospitalized with COVID symptoms and 14 deaths.
- Whereas, among a population of about 72,000 unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated residents, 400 were hospitalized and 141 of them died.
Note to John Hidahl: Vaccination was successful by a factor of ten. The shots work!
Why are we in this predicament?
Actually, there are many reasons, but let us look at just three:
First, the political leadership in the U.S. — and elsewhere — failed miserably to recognize soon enough the likelihood of a serious pandemic. The failure in our country was exacerbated by a president (Trump) who calculated that understating the problem was better for him politically — ignorance, he reasoned, was campaign bliss.
Second, and even more disturbing, we now live in a society where an alarming number of people resist or deny objective truths, a country wherein we have “democratized facts” and see no harm in fueling and propagating silly myths, blatant untruths and crazy conspiracy theories. And there is no vaccine — save for persistent, relentless discussion and argument — to protect the civic health of our society.
Third, too many political and community leaders are reluctant to, or are afraid to, stand up to the mob. A loud, highly motivated but distinct minority of the citizenry is seeking to drive public health policy locally and across the country … and they are gaining traction.
In addition to Moynihan’s wisdom cited earlier, a couple other quotes come to mind as I reflect on what is going on in our county.
One is from Edmund Burke, the Anglo-Irish statesman of the 18th century who observed, “Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.”
The second comes from the contemporary conservative writer and commentator David Brooks, who in the introduction to his book, “The Road to Character,” writes about “résumé virtues and eulogy virtues.” As Brooks puts it, “… résumé virtues are the ones you list on your résumé, the skills that you bring to the job market and that contribute to external success. The eulogy virtues are deeper. They’re the virtues that get talked about at your funeral, the ones that exist at the core of your being …”
I fervently wish our local leaders were more interested in their “eulogy virtues” and less obsessed with their résumé — or reelection — ones. We would all be better served were it so.
Les Francis is a resident of Camino who spent more than four decades in Washington, D.C., with stints as a staff person on Capitol Hill and in the White House. He also has extensive experience in the private sector as a public affairs consultant for corporations and nonprofits. He is now retired and living with his wife, Shari, and three Brittany spaniels.