What is the worst thing that will happen if you wear one? You will be temporarily inconvenienced, A little uncomfortable?
There are doctors and other medical professionals that have addressed this. Our body's immune system works by exposure...it's how we build up the needed resistance to all kinds of pathogens. It's why young babies with under-developed immune system instinctively put virtually every thing in their mouths. When we wear masks day in and day out we are reducing the natural exposure we would be getting that keeps our body's immune system in good working order. Many of us voluntarily wore masks in the early days. But we don't see it as an ongoing solution for many reasons. Yes, it's uncomfortable because it is literally reducing your oxygen levels (which is a breeding ground for other problems - not to mention the mask itself). But we also see it as harmful.
Everybody wants to argue the "covid science"...but there's a whole other body of science that we have been following for years. We've had many other viral scares but when have we ever advocated for this and for such an extended period of time? We were told that we needed to wear masks until we could either flatten the curve or had a vaccine available. But even when a vaccine became available, we were told from the start that those who were vaccinated STILL needed to wear a mask. And this was back when they were telling us the vaccines had near 100% efficacy.
As to the resistance that so many seem to not understand, let's review how things happened in the states and maybe why some people now feel the way they do:
At the onset it was predicted that millions of Americans would die. It was a terrifying supposition and the models ended up being wildly wrong...but nonetheless we were absolutely terrified from the very start. We all watched this virus like it was an incoming comet that would annihilate the human population. This country's first case, now another country's first case.
We were told that the biggest and most pressing concern was the strain this would place on hospitals...that people would literally die "in the halls" because they would not be able to get treatment. Make-shift hospitals were set up, equipped and staffed in the most populous areas that also seemed to be experiencing the highest case loads. We focused on protecting the ones most as risk. We locked down, shuttered businesses and paid people billions of dollars to not open/not work - all with the singular (and largely in collective agreement) focus of "flattening the curve". Meanwhile, make-shift hospitals went un-utilized, we had covid patients instead pushed into nursing homes in several states, and the case numbers and deaths continued to tick up. We heard reports of hospitals at capacity and body bags stacked in refrigerated trucks, saw tik-tok dance videos of hospital staff, and news accounts of hospital staff lay-offs in secondary departments. The one thing no one could do was to actually get inside a hospital - unless you were admitted for covid. It began to be hard to know what to make of all the conflicting reports.
We were then told that the models were wrong...but that it was still bad. Death tickers ran 24/7 on virtually every news site. The numbers again created a fear. There were discussions for early treatments (HCQ, Ivermectin)...but those seemed to get politicized and dismissed early without much exploration. To this day, of all the people I personally know that have been diagnosed with covid, I know of only one that was actually given an early treatment. And he was subsequently not able to find a pharmacy to fill it. Everyone else was told to go home, isolate, and go to the hospital if they got worse.
When the lockdowns could no longer be claimed to be effective, we were told that we could re-open so long as we masked and social distanced. So we did - even cautiously because we were still seeing those death numbers. We masked with whatever we could find, our stores set aside special hours for the at risk, and the rest of us shopped with arrows on the floor telling us where we could stand and which direction we could go. The government also began to take the authority to tell us IF we could gather with friends and family for holidays, how many we could have there, make threats if we were caught in violation, and encourage our neighbors to report us. They called this the "new normal". We were told that our only hope was for a vaccine but that it would be at least 18 months out - with the average vaccine taking upwards of 10 years to be developed and approved.
As we neared the end of 2020, our all cause death numbers were aligning closely with the prior years. It caused people to ask - Where did all those covid death numbers go? It's then we also learn the broad classification for a covid death, the financial incentive to call it a covid death, and that the CDC had quietly downgraded their numbers to say that only 6% of what had been reported as a covid death was now actually due to covid. This downgrading should have been a celebration; it was largely ignored by all MSM. The death tickers on news stations collectively disappeared.
We end 2020/open 2021 with a vaccine - hooray! But that 18 month minimum estimation for vaccine development is off-set by this actually being an EUA vaccine. It can be authorized for EUA specifically because there is no other treatment. One just needs to give informed consent. Oh, and by the way, we have very little safety data, it's an mRNA vaccine - it doesn't work like most past vaccines you have taken, and yeah..the pharmaceutical companies cannot be held liable in any way. Certain political sects and their leaders publicly stated they were NEVER going to take this vaccine because of the administration it was developed under - ironically the same that are now trying to get it mandated. It was claimed the vaccine was not safe...that they would wait for another vaccine. (I'm not arguing politics here...I'm simply pointing out why one might now ask questions/have doubts.)
But then we were told that the vaccines would provide near 100% efficacy so people lined up/rolled up. But some of us were concerned, many of us had already had covid - some recently, and we had questions at the onset that didn't seem to ever be addressed with actual science. Not that it couldn't have been...it just wasn't. Our government just seemed to be on a mission to get everyone vaccinated - 70% by July 4th is what I believe was the goal. We literally wanted the majority of our population vaccinated in less than 7 months when we didn't even have 7 months worth of safety data....for a virus that, according to their reports, had a 99% survival rate. And not only are our questions not being addressed, a mass censorship unlike ever seen in our country's history starts taking place. We literally have experiences of having information taken out from under us as we are reading/seeing it. These are not our friends' posts about what their veteran uncle says the government is trying to do. These are accredited doctors and scientists...that are literally discussing the very concerns we have. (Contrary to possible public perception, we aren't just empty containers that happened to get filled by whatever we come across. We are intelligent people that are proactively searching for answers that actually make sense to us. We can distinguish that our friend's uncle is an idiot.)
Then began all the moving goalposts.
Who still had to wear a mask, who would be allowed to travel, would we need to require vaccine passports - and who would control that database, should a vax be mandated - is it constitutional, who can enforce it. Businesses begin to require it out of legal fear and anticipation of government mandates, it's forced on our military, FFs, LEOs, virtually every public servant. And it's forced on our medical professionals. We have now moved from the initial primary concern of straining our hospitals and now we see doctors and nurses leaving their jobs - all because they won't take a shot when they worked for the last year plus on the front lines, many of them lacking even the necessary PPE in the early days! (There are doctors and nurses that won't take the shot - can't us Average Joes get a break when we tell you we are hesitant?) Ironically, medical workers that are vax'd but test positive for covid may now be allowed at work so long as they are asymptomatic. How does that even make sense?? We fired medical professionals for not being vax'd but allow covid positive to work. Meanwhile, our elected leaders exempt themselves and big Pharma from the mandates and explain to us unvax'd how they are "really losing patience" with us. Just like that, we become the reason (scapegoat) for covid not being eradicated.
In the midst of all these above things, we continually learn about the changes in the efficacy of the vaccines. I won't belabor those points here because they have already been well discussed. I'm just trying to give context as to why that as a sole explanation is not well received or easily dismissed for certain groups. We are on our third shot here, Israel is on their fourth...and we're hardly a year into the vaccine. Vaccines that don't actually convey immunity are not really vaccines - despite that the definition has had to be changed to continually call it a vaccine. (Just think about that part... The thing didn't fit the definition of a vaccine so the f'ing DEFINITION was changed.) These are called leaky vaccines, btw, and they create all kinds of issues later, including dangerous mutations. Australia is in a state beyond comprehension, reminiscent of Nazi Germany ...which is where many of us were afraid WE could end up before ever witnessing them actually come into the state they are. It's kind of unnerving to try to understand some of all these pieces, look at them collectively and think, Yikes...that would be like Nazi Germany - and then see a country that has done those things and become like Nazi Germany.
Yet, there sits Covid...skipping right along and seemingly largely unaffected by any and every single thing that has been done. Omega, Lamda, Delta, Omicron - mutations they say.
There's so much more I could say...about other EUA drugs used in the treatment, about administrative protocols that are not allowing doctors to actually treat, about money trails. It's not my intention to change anyone's mind. Truly it's not. But there's been pages here and on other threads stating how people "just don't understand" some particular perspective of the vaccine hesitant group. And then we get a bunch of data to wade through. I understand that the approach to this should be based on science and data...but there are collective overall elements that can't be just simply explained by science and the newest data. And even if you cannot see or comprehend or acknowledge the bigger question that this collective picture is causing some of us to have...maybe you can at least see why some of us are, at the minimum, hesitant.
This is my last post here on the topic. Perfect opportunity to rip my perspective to shreds. 
I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to have had the discussions I highly doubt that we change each others' minds...but maybe we do find enough understanding to generate compassion. That's my biggest worry...not that I may die but that I may be forced to live in a cold and inhumane world. 
[This message edited by truthsetmefree at 8:03 PM, Monday, January 10th]
