Yglesias looks at vaccines, especially in light of the fact that a child died of measles yesterday. I had my flu shot, but we had a terrible flu season, I coach wrestling which makes it easy to vector and sometimes a vaccine is imperfect.
In order for vaccines to work most effectively, we need as many people as possible to take them. Vaccines - arguably the greatest advance in the history of medical science alongside antibiotics - work both by reducing your vulnerability and by preventing spread. If 95% of people are vaccinated, then a disease can't get momentum or mutate as easily.
Left unsaid in Yglesias' analysis is the fact that the anti-vax movement has now taken up residence in the political right in this country. This is part of the broader ideological sorting of certain groups. Gone are the heterodox parties of the mid-20th century, instead every single anti-government crank now has a home in the GOP.
What's more, we can see in this antigovernmental movement a rejection of common cause. We get vaccinated to protect ourselves, but we also do it to protect others. The selfish, self-centeredness of the political right that has always been a part of their DNA was then catalyzed by the Covid measures taken to keep people alive.
Selfishness is not considered a virtue in any culture and in some it's the gravest sin. It makes sense that it would find a home in the GOP.
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