The unvaccinated deserve inclusion, love, and respect

Editorial by Juan Perfetti

Today begins a shameful disgrace for the city of Boston. January 15, 2022, the city government mandates private businesses to discriminate against unvaccinated (COVID-19) customers. A policy hypocritically called “B Together”.

Never mind that health authorities have said COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent transmission of the virus; or that those who have decided not to get vaccinated are probably healthy, with immunity, and their doctors may have recommended to not get the vaccine. Never mind our privacy.

The policy, mandated by the new mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, who won the election with barely 23% of the active voters, requires businesses such as restaurants, bars, and gyms to require “proof of vaccination” from all customers 12 years old and older. Furthermore, starting on May 1, 2022, the discrimination will affect everyone 5+ years old.

This measure is a violation of everyone’s privacy because, vaccinated or not, you will now need to go around showing your “proof of vaccination”, a private affair, to enjoy some food or drinks with your friends or family. Then, you will need to show your “proof” of the first booster, then the second booster, then the third booster… and then, who knows how this ends?

Anyone who knows a little about how Boston’s businesses and idiosyncrasies operate knows this measure will not be fulfilled and will not prevent the spreading of COVID-19, other variants, or any other virus.

The only thing this measure will achieve is to further divide the community, discriminate and humiliate the unvaccinated (and the unwanted); and of course, it will give much more power to the local government over the private lives of its subjects, I mean, citizens.

It is extremely concerning that civil and human rights organizations are not raising opposition to the rhetoric powerful politicians are making against the unvaccinated minority, which has paved the way for citizen’s privacy violations such as this mandate by Mayor Michelle Wu in Boston. Just a few days ago, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, publicly said that those who have not been vaccinated should not be considered citizens. And here, President Joe Biden has said several times that this is “the pandemic of the unvaccinated,” a false and dangerous rhetoric, when we all know no one was vaccinated before the pandemic began.

Rather than focusing on crushing the unvaccinated minority, Mayor Wu should use her privileged position as a descendant of immigrants from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to draw attention to the lack of transparency regarding the origin of the COVID-19 virus, and how the communist Chinese dictatorship used the pandemic to suppress all opposition in Hong Kong.

If this unjust measure is not stopped, the people of Boston will be subject to show medical papers permanently. The unvaccinated will be segregated, private companies will lose the little freedom they have and the violation of privacy will exacerbate. If Mayor Wu does not stop this abuse of power, the people of Boston must engage in civil disobedience, as Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Unfortunately, we have to accept that this virus, which has done us so much harm, is here to stay. The unvaccinated are not responsible for the pandemic. The unvaccinated deserve inclusion, love and respect, not humiliation.

There needs to be another way.