I’m old enough to remember when Howard Stern was a stunt-loving douchebag, and it’s remarkable to see how much he’s changed and grown over the years. Especially considering that talk radio seems to be an industry dominated by right-wing nutjobs, it’s wonderful to see Stern grow into a role resembling the liberal/progressive voice of talk radio. He’s become so political and his politics are unapologetically left-wing. It’s also notable because just in the past six weeks or so, a half-dozen prominent anti-vaxx, right-wing radio talk show hosts have died of Covid. That was part of Stern’s riff yesterday, as he spoke about the unvaccinated “nutjobs” who are ruining America.
Radio host Howard Stern blasted opponents of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, stating that “nutjobs” are trampling on his “freedom to live.”
“When are we going to stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it’s mandatory to get vaccinated?” Stern said to listeners on his eponymous SiriusXM program. “As I remember, when I went to school, you had to get a measles vaccine. You had to get a mumps vaccine…F— them. F— their freedom. I want my freedom to live. I want to get out of the house. I want to go next door and play chess. I want to go take some pictures. This is bullsh-t.”
“The other thing I hate is that all these people with COVID who won’t get vaccinated are in the hospitals clogging it up,” the radio host, dubbing vaccine opponents “imbeciles,” exclaimed. “So like, if you have a heart attack or any kind of problem, you can’t even get into the E.R. And I’m really of mind to say, ‘Look, if you didn’t get vaccinated [and] you got COVID, you don’t get into a hospital.'”
“Go f— yourself,” Stern continued. “You had the cure and you wouldn’t take it.”
Stern also railed against Texas’s controversial law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. “We have a system, as [former] President Trump said, the system is rigged. And he’s right. It is rigged — except it’s rigged for a–holes. Trump got to be president, and he lost by 3 million votes,” Stern said. Then-candidate Trump won the Electoral College vote in 2016 but lost the popular vote to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
He’s right. He’s totally right. I view vaccine mandates the same way as mandatory MMR vaccines for entering public school. Just f–king mandate it, tell people that you can’t enter a place of business or a restaurant or a movie theater or a grocery store without proof of vaccination. Stern is totally right. And “rigged for a–holes” is dead-on.
Here’s an audio clip of Stern and Robyn talking about all of the anti-vaxx radio hosts who died of Covid, which leads into the MMR vaccine and vaccine mandates. The clip comes across as somewhat ghoulish, but I think they’re being completely fair.
Howard Stern roasts anti-vaxxers:
"F*ck their freedom, I want my freedom to live" pic.twitter.com/nrsSX3dBC5
— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) September 9, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Yeah bc ur putting everyone else at risk. I’m so done with anti vaccine BS
At this point in time, I’m ALL FOR having to show your vaccine card of QR code to get into *ANY* public place (bars, restaurants, business, trains, planes, etc., like they’re doing in France and a few other countries now).
Same for a hospital. You should have to show proof that you’ve gotten your vax. You want to play a stupid game with your health by not “believing in science”, then don’t turn to science to help you. You shouldn’t be able to take up bed space, vents, icus, health care workers’ time/expertise. You win your stupid prize: you GOT covid to own the libs. You gambled with your health and lost.
I am ALL out of any *shred* of compassion/empathy for ALL of these asswipes. They can all die for all I care at this point. My ONLY concern/sympathy is for all the people they infect who die or get long-hauler symptoms, and ESPECIALLY the children who are too young to get vaxxed. THEY are the ones that everyone SHOULD be protecting!
Since they are running out of ICU space across the country, they will soon get to the point where they will have to decide who gets a bed. And it just might be down to who was vaccinated and who wasn’t.
“I am ALL out of any *shred* of compassion/empathy for ALL of these asswipes. They can all die for all I care at this point. My ONLY concern/sympathy is for all the people they infect who die or get long-hauler symptoms, and ESPECIALLY the children who are too young to get vaxxed. THEY are the ones that everyone SHOULD be protecting!
@TheOGJan, this is where I am. I am beyond hurt, disappointed, and just so freakin’ exasperated with these fools that are playing with all of our lives. There are so many people that I know that I will never look at the same again because of all this. I never thought I would be at the place of “they can all go die”, but yeah, as a parent to two under 12 children, I’m there.
It’s *never* going to be down to who’s vaccinated and who’s not. It will always be about who is closest to death. That logic would be such a gross violation of the Hippocratic oath, and you do NOT want that precedent in place.
(For one thing… unvaccinated =/= antivax, and you’d have to prove the thought crime of intentionally not getting it. And for poor people of color, multigenerational mistrust of government-provided injections is a very real thing & does not justify a death sentence.)
That said, I have lost three friends this summer to medical issues that might not have been fatal, had nurses just been able to pay more attention to them.
I get why people keep saying this. I just cringe deeply when I imagine it in action, because that violates every value a doctor should have.
There are a number of physicians who disagree with the Hippocratic oath in application to any number of modern health dilemmas. That said, the Hippocratic oath also states that prevention is better than treatment and doctors are bound to act accordingly, and also that remembering your place in society and the resulting responsibility is paramount.
If it is a question of who is closest to death resulting from a disease that is to some extent preventable and it is preventing medical care being offered to others who do not have that luxury from other illnesses, and it is something that can occur repeatedly, and is far more transmissible, contagious and complicated than almost any other disease when left unchecked or allowed to circulate, and it is taking up the resources of the medical staff at hand to the point that many of them are quitting entirely – what is the solution?
As for people of color and their multigenerational mistrust, that I do understand entirely (although one difference between other instances of government-provided injections and this is that I am not asking anyone to do anything I have not done myself and have taken others to the exact same facility in which I was vaxxed to receive the same treatment; nevertheless, that’s secondary and is a different situation). But the other fact of the matter is that white people remain the majority of unvaccinated patients and so they are the ones putting the burden on these hospitals etc. For nonwhite people it’s more usually a question of access, not refusal, and the numbers tell.
You have stated that not being vaccinated doesn’t necessarily equal being antivaccine. At this point, if you are able to do so and you are not necessarily anti-vaccine and you still have refused it, there is no excuse.
@ Brittney B, that is the exact same reason why I am so incredibly angry now!!! There was a Vet that needed care, I think in Texas of course, who had a terrible life threatening illness but due to there not being ANY ICU’s available for him to be hospitalized in a more qualified hospital to treat his illness, he died after several days of waiting to be Medivacked to ANY Houston cancer hospitals!!! He was only in his 40’s I think, and he died needlessly from the stupidity of anti-vaccinated folks flooding all of the hospital systems. The ER doctor was devastated and ANGRY that he wasn’t able to save this mans life.
I have a serious problem with my hips that requires me to go to our local hospital for more testing, MRI/mylogram/x-rays, but I refuse to step foot into a Texas hospital!! So I am at home suffering in an enormous amount of pain, regardless of the Vicodin patches that I place inside my mouth every 12 hours, only to keep suffering from this unrelenting pain! I can’t sleep, walk or place any weight on my L hip due to the pain. We can’t schedule surgery because we need updated tests and I refuse to go!! I am so ANGRY that people that are suffering from terminal illnesses CAN’T be treated by these selfish $$holes!!
I agree with Stern, I want MY freedom back as well, but no, we have selfish, arrogant, ignorant and down right political affiliations keeping EVERYONE hostage to their actions!!
Yes. Being unvaccinated does not mean being anti-vax. I promote vaccination myself every chance I get online, in detail. But I have health issues partly related to too many awful pollen/mold seasons in a row and need to be in better shape before I get the vaccine for myself.
I have a history of unhappy responses to vaccines, probably because my immune system is overenthusiastic (multiple allergies and sensitivities) and I get bad inflammatory responses. So I’m pretty sure my immune system will respond well to the vaccine training program for it, unlike other poor souls whose immune system is underenthusiastic and who never really respond properly to vaccines. Vaccinated does not automatically mean protected for such folk.
But you know the list of potential after-effects of the vaccine? I have most of them at various times from March (tree pollen/mold) through August (grass pollen /mold) and September thru early to mid-November (lovely weed pollen/mold). The allergy season used to be much shorter, apparently climate change is somehow involved…. Plus other issues flare when those allergy symptoms are high. I want to be able to tell if the mRNA vaccine is gentler or not, please, and can’t really deal with more of the same, so I need to get that list down first.
So I stay in lockdown. Mask on if I go out the door just to check on the cat. Don’t go anywhere close to other humans. (OK, that really is the way I like it, so I am not deprived.) I’m careful when receiving packages or Instacart orders (no contact). I am probably the least likely person in town to get COVID and will be exposed more when I go for vaccination than since February 2020… So I am really not a risk to other people.
Am hoping other issues will resolve enough by mid-November to get vaccinated, although I will still be the same sort of careful because I know how vaccines work and they are not a magic shield against whatever my idiot fellow freedom-fighter maskless citizens are spitting into the air. But in case I do need to go somewhere (like a hospital or doctor’s office) or someone has to come inside the house to deal with repairs etc., I want the Fauci Ouchie.
I am 100% behind him. I got called a sheep and a bully for supporting vaccines and for supporting experts; meanwhile buddy has diabetes and many many other comorbidities. Oh well.. not like I need idiots like that in my life.
I have to say if my son has an anaphylactic reaction and dies because he was unable to get treatment in time due to the ER being full of unvaccinated a holes well…
Hey Karen , some people can’t get vaxxed because they have anaphylactic reactions to propylene glycol which is in the vaccine .
that’s unnecessary. We know that some people can’t get vaccines, which is why the rest of us need to get them!!
Anaphylaxis can be quickly reversed with antihistimine and adrenaline injections (Epi pens), which are on hand in vaccination centers in case of anyone having this extremely rare reaction, which would show up within a few minutes of injection if it happens at all. People with any worrying history of anaphylaxis are monitored twice as long after they receive their vaccine, just to be sure. In the U.S. there have been 15 cases of anaphylaxis with the Moderna shot and 45 with the Pfizer shot. That translates to 2.1 cases per MILLION DOSES.
Hey Silver,
Every nut job refusing to get vaccinated is posing a real threat to the lives of the tiny minority who legitimately can’t get vaccinated for health reasons.
Why is it that people don’t know how to use the word Karen? Karens are the ones refusing to get vaccinated based on pseudoscience, thanks.
There was and is an issue in my area about vaccine availability still. People want them and wait for appointments, but they need the first dose and pharmacies cannot get it until the second dose is given out to everyone that needs it. Only some people got the second dose somewhere else or not at all so the first dose never comes.
My area is rural and the elderly cannot easily travel outside of it. We also do not have Uber or public transportation for vaccine appointments. Do those people not deserve a hospital bed if needed?
Stern is basic an ahole because he lives in a bubble to make such generalized statements. Howard is not drawing a line between those that won’t get the vaccine and those that Can’t.
I don’t think anyone here is upset with people who have legit health reasons to not get the vaccine. It’s people who can and won’t that are the issue.
Lanne
They’re not out of line because Stern isn’t saying people that can’t be vaccinated are the exception. He’s saying all unvaccinated people should be refused bed if they get it. And as I said… there are areas that the willing still do not have access to vaccines. But getting into details could slow the flow of his rant.
They are out of line, because people advocating for vaccines know that there is a minority that can’t get it (although propylene glycol is not the reason for most of those) and a segment of those who want it and don’t have access, we follow science, it’s implicit that those are not who are being referred to. You’ll note he said “won’t” not “can’t”.
@Silver — In these conversations we are NEVER referring to people who medically cannot get the vaccine. We are talking exclusively about the many people who actively choose not to get the vaccine, and thus put those who CAN’T get the vaccine in danger.
Hey Covert Karen (Silver). The number of people who legitimately can’t get vaccinated isn’t high enough to excuse the numbers of those who aren’t. So sit down and try again. And if you’re referring to that in response to the “unvaxxed equals no vent,” allergies and vaccine reactions are listed in the medical record if they’re legitimate, which would be taken into consideration in that sort of triage situation, if it ever came down to that. I can use logic AND throw my a** right back.
That’s literally the point, @Silver – everyone who CAN get it, SHOULD. At some point there is herd immunity which protects the people who cannot get it. You aren’t the problem and not the people we’re talking about here, so calm down.
Hey Silver,
Reread the comment. The subtext is that s/he supports vaccination and has concerns the rest of us have about non-covid ER admits being pushed off bc of all the false bravado/chickenshit vax-holes who get covid and flood the ERs. 🙄
@ Silver, your reaction in responding to this thread as a classic Karen analogy is disgusting!! You obviously do not listen or read as to Sterns, or NorthernGirl_20, appropriate response. As for those with a tendency to allergic reactions are purposely monitored for such reactions which are IMMEDIATE, doesn’t hold water.
So please @ Silver, look into your hateful comments and think about what you blasted.
I agree with Stern and everyone else who is standing in solidarity to the people who have access to the vaccine and still refuse to be vaccinated!! Due solely for the reason of believing the lies and the other misinformation that anti-vax idiots post everywhere!!!
@Silver: Hey Silver – insulting people by calling them “Karen” is immature and rude. We’re not stupid, we all know there are circumstances under which it’s unsafe for certain people to get vaccinated. You should think twice before you post these unwarranted comments.
Then don’t get an mRNA vaccine, get j&j. Or premedicate with antihistamines and steroids like i did
People are being turned away from ER’s because they are full due to unvaccinated people. I have a son who has severe food allergies and if the ER is full and he is not able to get timely treatment he will die so yes I get upset when people will not get vaccinated because “they don’t trust the vaccine” or “Covid is just a cold”.
I got called bully for believing that everyone who can should be vaccinated and just for “believing” in Covid in general.
@ NorthernGirl_20, I am truly sorry that you are living in this state of fear on a daily basis. It’s adherently scary to be a parent with regards to the safety of your child as they reach adulthood, but to add on to the stress that you are feeling everyday is not right. You should not have to be living day to day as you fear that you could lose your son due to the stupidity and selfishness of others. I hope that if and when we come out of this, your son will remain healthy and not be in need of a hospital for his survival.
Sending you virtual hugs for you and your son!!
I know my name is a meme/moniker for inexcusable behavior, but I have been able to convince three former anti-vaxxers to get their shots. It’s not much, but it’s a small gesture to help those who cannot get theirs for health reasons. Not all Karens are Karens.
Hugs (virtual and non-infectious) to you, lovely Karen! Your name is beautiful and so are you.
Thank you KarenNotKaren. We had to convince Mr. Jaded’s daughter to get vaccinated. It wasn’t pretty what we had to go through — lots of yelling and hysterics — but eventually it worked. It’s not the number of people you convince, it’s that you had the courage and compassion to convince 3 people.
@ KarenNotKaren, thank you Karen, which is my sisters name and is extremely left wing, as you have shown that it’s awful to be affiliated with the characterization.
But I am sending you excellent virtual hugs from Texas for being able to convince THREE people!!! That’s absolutely fantastic!!! I need your secret as I cannot convince my son and my pregnant DIL to be vaccinated, she is drinking dandelion tea for “protection”! I have refuse to allow them to visit me as I have a weak immune system, chronic pain 15+ years, and I have tried everything!!! I can’t get my son to budge even though we are extremely progressive and my husband, his stepfather since he was 5, is a physician, but he ONLY follows his wife’s decisions on everything!! They are HUGE Drumpf supporters!!
Please tell me your secret!!!!
Using Karen as an insult now is so OVER. Let’s let all the nice Karens out there have their names back.
In solidarity,
Someone for whom the late 90s kind of sucked
Totally get it @Monica but the violent behavior from white women toward BIPOC and primarily Black people has not stopped, is not “over”. Sometimes you just get the luck o the draw when it comes to monikers and yeah, sucks for Karens, but the behavior sucks worse.
I always laugh at the sheep comment because really who is the sheep? The person who would stand there and die rather than get vaccinated because talk radio told them not to is the sheep.
He’s 💯 right 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
100% agreed.
He is right BUT most everyone here in the Celebitchy community has been saying this since March. Obviously Howard has a really large audience but he should have said it before now.
In fairness to him, this week has been the first time he’s been on air since the end of June. While things weren’t exactly trending the right way then, things have become considerably worse in the last 60 days.
Agreed, @Dutch. And for what its worth—I listen to him daily—he’s been pro-vaccine since the vaccine came out. He’s never wavered on his “I trust Fauci and science” stance.
Howard has been saying this since the vaxxed was rolled out. He hasn’t said it before since he was on vacation for 2.5 months. And when he is on vacation he goes dark and you won’t hear from him. I agree if you willfully will not take the vaccine for BS reasons. You should be turned away with some asprin and wish for the best. Don’t take up beds or ask for the vaccine when it’s too late.
People not taking the vaccine because it’s “experimental” but being willing to take monoclonal antibodies and other new treatments when they get Covid shows the awful power of propaganda.
These people are taking horse medication. There was a couple a while back who ingested aquarium cleaner. But a vaccine that has been overwhelmingly safe for billions? NO!
Pfizer is fully approved now so that argument is out the window.
“I want my freedom to live. I want to get out of the house. I want to go next door and play chess. I want to go take some pictures. This is bullsh-t.”
FULLY AGREE, yes!!! These anti-vax people are holding us hostage, and it’s sooooo wrong that people with other conditions are dying waiting for a hospital bed because these people refuse to listen to logic. If the only people who didn’t get it were those who were medically unable to do so, that would be a very small percentage and we’d be able to get on with our lives safely no problem.
I’m so tired. 2021 has been exhausting, moreso than 2020 for me. In 2020 at least we were sorta on the same page. Now mask mandates vary place to place, gatherings are reluctant to have ANY safety measures for some reason, some friends are living like it’s 2019 again and don’t understand why I’m still living very cautiously, etc. It’s not normal to have to think about pandemic-related matters all day every day. It needs to end.
@ Case, it does need to end. The anti-fax community has taken everyone hostage due to their selfish actions. They are reminiscent of pro-lifers as well who protest, assault and accost patients and staff.
It’s time that we start treating the anti-vax community to some sort of restrictions to live out their daily lives, free to do as they please without any restrictions placed on THEM, not US who choose to do the right thing!! As soon as we start restricting THEIR freedumbs, we will never be free to live our lives.
I have absolutely zero compassion for these people. They should be treated as the vile, poisonous scum of the earth and labeled as such.
No vaccine, no longer able to freely walk amongst the public!!!
It felt cruel to think this way but I agree with Howard. If you don’t believe in science enough to get vaccinated then you cannot believe in science enough to receive the care it takes to get you well.
+1
This.
Is it anymore cruel than refusing to get vaccinated or wear a mask, and intentionally spread Covid around? More cruel than sending kids under 12 back to school in this mess so now they are getting sick and ending up in the pediatric ICU? More cruel than critical non-Covid patients dying because they could’ve get treatment because many Covid iota are hogging up medical resources?
I prefer to look at this as the school of hard knocks. The level of selfishness coming from anti-vaxxers should not be rewarded at the expense of everyone else.
and I’m not donating a dime of my hard earned coin to the gofundme accounts of people who are anti-Obamacare, anti-vax, anti-mask, and apparently, anti-life insurance because they tickled the dragon’s tail and got incinerated.
Do Americans not have vaccine passports? Where I live in Canada, we are getting vaccine passports this month. You can’t go in a restaurant, a gym, the movies, weddings, funerals, etc. if you are not vaccinated. When the government made this announcement the number of people running to get the vaccine jumped. We have to force these fools to get the vaccine and limiting their freedoms is the way to do it.
We’re not there. And probably never will be at this point. Some areas are mandating vaccine cards like New York but it’s not wide spread.
Well that’s too bad. How are we ever going to get out of this? It just doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to be “normal” again.
My vaccine card is destroyed after going through the wash.
Contact the pharmacy/hospital where you were vaccinated to get a replacement. Failing that, contact the state health department that holds the records of vaccinations.
It’s going to take more than passports to get out of this. As protection from the first two shots wanes, we are going to need boosters and that’s a supply problem atm.
@ gaitanalyst
Of course it’s going to take more than vaccine passports to get out of this. But vaccine passports help push people to go get vaccinated. Their “freedoms” will be limited if they don’t get vaxxed. What will help end this pandemic is a high vaxx rate amoung the world.
@wiglet I signed up for my state’s documents app (Colorado). Maybe your state has one too? It has my license, vaccine card, fishing license and car registration on it and you can download a PDF of all the documents right on your phone or tablet. It made proving my vaccination status super easy for an event I went to last weekend that required vaccination or a negative COVID test to get in.
The USA has people picketing and assaulting workers at testing and vaccination sites. About 35 minutes outside of liberal Boulder Colorado for example. The idea that we would need paper work to eat in a restaurant which is “OUR RIGHT” somehow ….. we aren’t a country that cares about community or each other. We are a country of mostly individuals who don’t care if their neighbor dies. But do care if someone they love dies. But not enough to alter anything about their beliefs or their behaviors or their “freedoms”
We have people protesting outside of hospitals here in Canada, forcing outpatients to walk through their midst to receive chemotherapy. I struggle to comprehend this.
@Robyn, my heart just hurt when I read about this. Seems like it’s been bad in BC, ON and who knows where else. The thought of our most vulnerable having to fight through a mob of yelling, maskless anti-vaxxers to get their hospital treatment. And of course, doctors, nurses, hospital staff…. I can’t imagine the stress on top of what they already face. Cannot believe it is allowed, hospital entrances need to stay clear.
Nurses were in groups AT the protests in Vancouver. And it’s allowed to happen because it’s a verrrrrrrry white group. The RCMP is too busy assaulting Indigenous folks protecting forests.
We don’t have vaccine passports where I live, but there are many events and venues that are requiring proof of vaccination, so we use our vaccine cards.
You live in a society that has an agreed upon set of rules to continue participation in. If you don’t want to follow those rules or make certain choices, that’s fine with me, but that choice you made renders you unable to participate in this particular society. It’s called consequenses. You are not free from experiencing the consequences of your actions or choices. Freedom is not actually free.
Yes!!!
Exactly.
Thankfully here in PR it’s mandated for all 12 and up for schools (public and private) and colleges- medical/religious exemptions. At bars, restaurants have to require vaccinations or operate at 50 % capacity. We have a government app with digital ID license and validated vaccine info that can be scanned at establishments and concerts. Vaccine uptake continues (always have hardliners opposed) but for eligible population 12 and up we are at 84% one vaccine and about 73% both vaccines with 66% overall in entire population and counting…. Delta is still causing havoc but it needs to be a community effort so we reach at least an endemic levers and can live without unnecessary chaos and collapsed health care… is it that hard to understand?
The politicians who are anti-vax and or anti vax passport need to have their offices deluged with phone callers from their constituents about losing future votes. Then in the future remember and go to the polls and vote them out.
That will change their position. They want to keep their impressive jobs.
I was reading today that a patient admitted to hospital in Ontario with Covid, costs over $50,000 . It makes me sick to think that a heart attack patient or cancer patient doesn’t get a bed in ICU. They should triage patients and if they are unvaccinated they don’t get a bed.
And the beds being used for covidiots who didn’t get vaccinated are taken away from people who need them for other issues.
Let’s be clear because many people will die for having delayed treatment for cancer, heart disease and other issues because there weren’t enough resources to focus on them
@Nettie – I recently lost my best friend who had to call an ambulance because she thought she was having a heart attack. She was given a number of tests that showed she wasn’t having a heart attack and sent home the next morning because there were no beds outside of a very crowded emergency hallway for her. Two days later she died of a blocked coronary artery. This wouldn’t have happened if only she could have stayed another couple of days. I blame anti-vaxxers for her death.
I’m so sorry.
I just ordered a tshirt from etsy. It says “Texas. Where a virus has more rights than a woman.” Going to wear at the march in October. Don’t mean to threadjack, but it’s 100 percent true. Freedom of vaccine and mask use but not freedom of uterus.
I grew up with Howard stern (my dad is… unique) and I’m glad he’s evolved past the discriminatory, misogynistic comedy I remember as a kid. He’s still someone whose voice I admire even as an adult
Yes, I remember vaguely hearing of him as a crass blowhard, so his strong stance on basic science is appreciated!
I used to listen to him 25-30 years ago when he was on regular radio. He’s actually always been very liberal and would have great pro choice rants and have decent interviews with politicians and others. But the flip side was his gross porn star loving bs when I would turn him off. He has 3 daughters and he used to talk about them and his long term marriage. He did get divorced but he was never a crazy social guy. He used to talk about what a recluse he was.
I’ve seen things change quite a bit since the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine. Hundreds more hospitals and businesses are now starting to require that their employees be vaccinated. Maybe it’s a matter of shifting liability from an employer mandating an unapproved vaccine to the federal government that approved it.
I think health insurance companies needs to apply the pressure too. As much as I loathe them, they have a lot of power here, and it’s to their benefit that everyone get the free vaccine, rather than rack up thousands and beyond in hospital bills.
I don’t understand why people who refuse the vaccine are going to hospitals when they get sick. I thought they thought Covid was a hoax, or just the flu. If it’s just the flu, then they don’t need to go to the hospital.
I was surprised when people were willing to sabotage their own prosperity and the prosperity of their children to vote for policies and people that support white supremacy. I’m shocked to my core that these people are willing to sacrifice their own lives and the lives of their children for Trump. Maybe I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am.
At the very least unless you have a VALID reason for not taking the vaccine then you should be last in line for resources needed for treatment. Save the ventilators for vaccinated individuals and those who cannot, under doctor recommendation, get the vaccine.
In the area I live they’ve started to require vaccines or a negative test within 24 hours to go into places like concert venues, which I think is smart. It’ll be interesting to see how that expands as time goes on. Right now we’re under a second mask mandate because cases spiked again thanks to Delta.
Sorry but…none of this makes sense. I’m hearing from many friends in the nursing field that vaxxed are taking up the majority of beds in hospitals. Many of my friends, fully vaxxed, have caught covid for a second time. My good friends dad who was vaxxed early on just died. You can STILL get the virus if you are vaxxed. The mentality that “unvaxxed” are the problem is bullshit. Germs are germs. Everyone should have the choice to do what’s best for them. I truly don’t see a point in it. Acting like you’re invincible bc of a shot is delusional since again, the majority of people I know who have gotten fully vaxxed are getting plagued with covid.
Nobody ever said you can’t get the virus when vaxxed!! Why is this a talking point? Of course you can. It limits the horrible risk of death and other complications. Obviously your mileage may vary, but it’s a massive defense mechanism – and the variants are from the unvaxxed. And no offense to your “friends in the nursing field” but the data doesn’t support them.
Agree I see a lot of “my freind said” well where is the data proving it?
sorry but what you’re saying isn’t supported by the data – the unvaxxed are the majority of new cases, the majority of hospitalized patients, and the majority of deaths. The vaccines don’t offer 100% protection, nothing does, take your misinformation elsewhere.
According to the CDC:
—Fully vaccinated people with a breakthrough infection are less likely to develop serious illness than those who are unvaccinated and get COVID-19.
—Even when fully vaccinated people develop symptoms, they tend to be less severe symptoms than in unvaccinated people. This means they are much less likely to be hospitalized or die than people who are not vaccinated.
—Most hospitalized vaccinated people are of an *average age* of 73 with 2-3 comorbidities.
GET VAXXED!!!
@Kat, I’m an RN and what your nurse friends are supposedly saying is patently untrue. All the data – and my real-life experience working at a major teaching hospital and level 1 trauma center – shows the exact opposite of this: that the VAST majority of those currently hospitalized with covid are un-vaxxed, as are nearly all those in the ICU and on vents. The very, very small minority of vaxxed patients in the hospital are those with underlying health problems.
That being said, this pandemic has revealed that there are a lot of ignorant, conspiracy-believing nurses out there, and I guess your friends are among them
Anecdotal information like you have shared above does nothing to further the spread of science based factual information. The actual science behind break through infections, collected by scientists and analyzed by scientists, show a completely different picture than your anecdotal information.
But I will tell you. My best friend is the charge nurse of a covid ICU in Arizona. She said 90% of her patients are unvaxxed. Of the 10% that are vaxxed that have been on her floor, zero have died. So that anecdote conflicts with yours. But the science is the science, and we should use science to make decisions during a public health disaster.
Depending on the state – 95% to 99% of all covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths are among those who are unvaccinated. Vaccines aren’t 100% and people don’t catch Covid out of nowhere – if most everyone you know who’s been vaccinated has gotten Covid, then chances are you’re living in an area with a lot of unvaccinated people who aren’t bothering to take any precautions.
“Everyone should have the choice to do what’s best for them.” … I think what most folks are saying here is why are people who chose not to protect themselves or others in their midst expecting hospitals to save their lives at great resource cost? Why do they now want an ethical society and science-driven community to save them from the consequences of their self-centered “choice”? Why do they protest the places and people they feel entitled to be saved by? When we live together in families, communities and societies we don’t each of get to decide what’s best for ourselves despite the the harm and death it causes others.
Your nursing friends are wrong. The majority of people in hospitals for COVID are the UNvaccinated. Maybe you misheard.
Stop spreading disinformation.
Your post is like a bingo card of non-fact based, QANON-level rhetoric that’s so ignorant it would be funny if it weren’t literally killing people.
I agree everyone should have the choice to do what’s best for them. And frankly, that means hospitals need to start saying NOPE to giving precious ICU beds to ignorant assh***s who refuse to get vaxxed, because that’s what’s best for the rest of us.
“Everyone should have the choice to do what’s best for them. ” Yeah…no. Not when it comes to a high contagious virus.
And your nurse friends are completely wrong – every single data point out there shows the majority of hospitalizations are the unvaccinated.
Wtf? Completely garbage take.
Making grand statements with only anecdotes as support, and wrapping it up with “germs are germs” does not a convincing argument make. Especially since so much actual data refutes what you are spouting.
Also, the people who are acting like they are ‘invincible’ are the people who argue against getting vaccinated. I “truly don’t see a point” in why you even included those last two sentences (other than a strawman argument). Just… complete nonsense.
This is literally disproved by a simple google search:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/24/cdc-study-shows-unvaccinated-people-are-29-times-more-likely-to-be-hospitalized-with-covid.html
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034e1.htm
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/news/press-releases/2021/08/27/adult-icu-patients-hit-record-highs-pandemic-new-report-shows-unvaccinated-people-are-more-15-times
Vaccination does not mean you won’t get hospitalized, especially with virulent diseases. What they do is provide your body a blueprint to fight it more effectively and expediently so you have a better chance of surviving it. For some people, that means they will have a mild case that keeps them at home. For the less fortunate, particularly older or immunocompromised, that means a hospital stay. The primary difference between the vaccinated and unvaccinated who are hospitalized? The former group is significantly more likely to go home afterwards.
@kat Tell us you’re anti-vaxx without telling us you’re anti-vaxx. You sound like Joe Rogan.
You guys just write “troll” under these and we can zap these people. There’s no use trying to talk sense into them.
Thanks troll. I’m sure ALL of your vaxxed friends (0 because you are a right wing troll) are just taking up all of the hospital beds 🙄
Sorry, but your nurse friends are liars with an antivax agenda. It’s the Unvaxxed who are taking up ICU beds, not breakthrough cases which are pretty mild and rarely require hospitalization.
Aww, you made all that up, didn’t ya, thinking we’re that gullible? TROLL.
As a nurse, I agree with him 100 percent.
“Stunt-loving douchebag” lol 😂 I’m old enough to remember those days, too
Just got back from working in Europe for three months. It’s SUCH a shock coming back home. In Hungary (where we mostly worked) they have a really high vaccination rate and almost no Covid cases, which means almost anywhere you go, there are NO MASKS NECESSARY and normal life is back. We got tested at work every second day too. In Austria (Vienna), there are mask inside everywhere and you have to show your vaccine card EVERYWHERE, even in the two Starbucks we went in. All the private businesses demand vaccine cards, as is their right. Why is that not possible here??
Because Typhoid Marys and Typhoid Michaels think its their right to spew virus everywhere, and think that mild inconvencience is the same as torture. Our society will be destroyed by the “individual over all” believe of the Republicans in the USA.
Quebec started a vaccine passport September 1. Here in Ontario, it starts October 22nd. After it was announced this week, new appointments for first shots doubled. British Columbia and Manitoba are also doing it. A lot of Canadians want a nationalized one so it works throughout the provinces, but Trudeau is hesitant because Alberta “the Texas of the north” won’t have it and he just called an election that is happening on the 20th. I hope if he wins, he just says screw Alberta and does it.
Amen!
I remember my first semester in College I was literally pulled from a classs for not having some rando vaccination. And since I didn’t have parents who cared about my education or wellbeing I had no idea about it. But like the young adult I was I went and got the vaccination so I could contiue attending College.
More stick less carrott please.
No because mistakes and hacks in recordkeeping are too easy.
100% agree with him.
Canadian here and we are dealing with the same kind of role out but now the provincial government is putting it business’ hands to write the policies which we can govern our personal businesses by. I could be wrong, but here’s what I don’t get about “some” anti vaxxers’ mentality. They think something could go wrong after getting it. The thing is, those of us who have been vaccinated have all had to take that risk. “it might cause blod clots” – ya, it might, especially if you have an underlying issue that you didn’t know about beforehand, but I also think that “blood clots” reasoning has been debunked AND is really not a mountain that antivaxxers should choose to die on. That said, for years now we have heard that smoking causes cancer and yet here are millions of people out there still taking that risk. Foods high in fat contents can cause heart disease and yet, McDonalds is still the most popular world wide. So people are very comfortable taking those risks and yet a vaccination is where they are drawing the line at “I could die so therefore I won’t ….” it doesn’t make sense to me. Also, kind of grossed out by Canadian antivaxxers now protesting outside of hospitals and yelling at staff and anyone who comes in and out of the hospital. I mean, wtf!!!
He’s right, especially since these idiots make it impossible for critically ill people to get beds for other life-threatening ailments. It’s infuriating.
Not only that, but hospitals are cancelling necessary, potentially life-saving surgeries for other patients because they’re overloaded. It’s fucked. Covid denier types always talk about other people being a burden on the healthcare system. Now THEY are.
Yeah, I don’t like this line of thinking at all. It seems like such a hard line to take, and one that you *know* would eventually be weaponized against vulnerable people in the future.
That said, I don’t work in medicine so I don’t fully understand what the past year and a half have been like for people who are doing that work on the front line. The only thing that’s coming through loud and clear is that they’re exhausted & they don’t have what they need and haven’t for a long time..
I would much rather put my thought/effort toward the rest of us getting our sh** together and pushing requiring vaccinations if you want to go out and do the day-to-day things that make up being part of a society. Let’s not pass the buck to the people who work in medicine if we don’t have to.
I’m a doctor who sees covid patients among others. Vaccinated people are generally not taking hospital beds unless they have illnesses (ex. multiple sclerosis) that prevented them from forming antibodies. Those patients are dying because of others’ choices. Anyway, I had an uncomfortable day recently where one patient was ranting about not getting the care he needed (transfer to a specialty hospital) because of the covid surge. He said “let those idiots live with their choices!” Earlier in the day I had put one of those “idiots,” a young unvaccinated man with covid, in the ICU to get put on a vent. I kept calmly telling my other patient, “yes, but they deserve to live despite those choices.” He wasn’t processing, just ranting. Finally I said a little more forcefully, “Mr… they are dying. You say they should live with their choices. But should they die?” He was finally quiet. Try being a nurse or doctor and watching someone in their 20s, 30s, 40s start dying from covid. It’s easy to say things. I’m fine with what Stern said because he’s just getting people thinking, and I’m grateful for anyone with a voice urging people to get vaccinated
It’s like drunk drivers. People feel invincible and ignore that their choices will affect other people. Of course it’s tragic when someone crashes and dies in a drunk driving accident. It’s even more tragic when they cross the median and injure/kill an unsuspecting family driving home. I haven’t lost my humanity or empathy completely but it’s beyond frustrating this level of selfishness on display by people who have the ability and privilege to get vaccinated and won’t.
I appreciate your commitment to care for and about your patients without regard to whether or not they may “deserve” it.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. It would be so hard to work at a hospital right now.
“You say they should live with their choices. But should they die?”
That is such a powerful question. Another question is…should other people die because of their choice to not vaccinate? A purple heart recipient died in Texas recently because of gall bladder stones, something that is not lethal with treatment, because they couldn’t find a hospital bed for him. His doctor said that he has never lost a patient from that diagnosis, ever. He said that the procedure the patient needed would have taken only 30 minutes, and he would have walked out the door.
We aren’t in normal times. We aren’t in a situation where medical care is being rationed simply as punishment. People are already dying because we can’t meet basic standards of care for routine medical needs.
We must try to help everyone, and when we can’t…horrible decisions have to be made about priorities. These are truly tragic times we are living through.
Thank you for doing what you do. It’s a difficult and truly thankless job.
Not to mention, the unvaxxed could expose and harm the people treating them. It’s preservation of our medical community to mandate vaccines. But half of the unvaxxed are still those who use the ACA and hate “Obamacare.” Also the same group that believes I. The freedom to destroy life via Covid, but rallies against reproductive freedom. Jesus, just put them on an island somewhere.
I’m fine with the island approach. They see themselves as lone wolves who are separate from society anyway. It should be an honour and a relief to be told to pick up and leave and to go live by their own rules.
This is sound in theory only. In reality, not so much. I left a longer comment about it on the Kimmel post.
But I will say this here: The anti-v’s who end up at the hospital should be questioned before entering. Why are you here? Why are you coming to us for help when you believe that this a) is a hoax or b) has a 99.9% survival rate? If it’s jUsT tHe fLu, go home.
Similar questions should be asked of those who show up with complications from taking ivermectin. Don’t coddle them: They’re the ones who cry about the world having gone soft. Let them have a taste of their own medicine.
I have ZERO sympathy for the anti-vaxx crowd. ZERO. Howard Stern is absolutely right.
Most people in our hospital’s covid ward were unvaccinated or haven’t completed the course. Not all were anti vaxx. Some were waiting for the 2nd shot, some were waiting a call from various vaccination centers for the first dose. Now, many patients who are/were critically ill tried to go the horse paste route first before rushing to the hospital. They simply could have been vaccinated. There were stories about patients who are willing to get the jab but were persuaded by their children, pastor, friends not to take it.
I have had my share of people who do not believe in the vaccine. I requested my best friend who is in my upcoming wedding to please think about getting vaccinated. She got the first shot. On the day of my shower as soon as walked in she freaked out on me and stated I bullied her into doing it and continued to make a scene for almost half an hour. I have had four semesters of immunology and tried to get to her understand the importance of vaccination. Besides anything, would it really be logical for pharmaceutical companies (I work in the industry in clinical trials) to release something that could be potentially harmful to millions of people? Think of the lawsuits. Plus, vaccines are not big money makers. Can you imagine the lawsuits? And to the population that thinks the upper class wants to diminish the lower classes, once again I ask where is the logic in that? Most people do not get rich without people to buy into what they are selling. We need to more science curriculum in our schools.