The Psychology Behind the Anti-vaxxer
Is it a lack of emotional intelligence?
A Louisiana man almost died from the coronavirus. Below he talks to CBS This Morning. He still isn’t getting the vaccine when he walks out of the hospital after suffering a serious case of pneumonia.
When a reporter asks him, “why not?”
His answer is,
“There’s too many issues with this vaccine. Don’t shove it down my throat. That’s what local, state, federal administration is trying to do. They’re shoving the fact that that’s their agenda. Their agenda is to get you vaccinated.”
Poor grammar aside, his answer isn’t substantive.
He just doesn’t like being told what to do. Which is akin to a 14-year-old’s emotional intelligence. My parents (authority) tell me I have to do my homework, so I’m not going to do it. Even though doing homework increases your chances of good grades.
This man doesn’t want to follow the local, state, or government’s “agenda” even though that “agenda” could save his life and those he comes into contact with like it has saved hundreds of thousands of others.
Vaccine hesitancy, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), describes anyone who avoids vaccines for any reason.
The virus is the fire. People are the fuel. The way we insulate ourselves from that fire is through vaccination. The mRNA vaccine has been proven to be safe and incredibly effective in decreasing the chances of contracting the airborne virus and preventing death if you do.
The Psychology of Anti-vaxxers — Both Right and Left
This is not just a right-wing blindspot. Democrats have been lured to the right politically because they are anti-vaxxers first.
Several years ago, celebrities like Jenny McCarthy and politicians like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were on an anti-vaccination crusade, leading to a measles outbreak in California. Both are liberal.
But now the right has taken up the stance with talking points like, “don’t fall prey to the liberal agenda and let them shove that vaccine down your throat.” The man in the video and the fanatical Trump base are simply repeating talking points they hear on Fox News and putting everyone in danger of having to deal with some form of the virus for the next 20 years.
Right-wing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was recently banned from Twitter for spreading misinformation about covid-19 vaccines.
I’m willing to bet every dollar in my bank account Tucker Carlson, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are fully vaccinated. Despite their full-time jobs undermining the Biden Administration’s efforts to reach herd immunity to protect us all and prevent the virus from mutating. Tucker and Greene “won’t” say if they’re vaccinated (both have been asked by reporters if they have) because they claim it is too personal a question and a HIPPA violation. It’s not.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, QAnon conspiracy nonsense pusher, would be the first one to scream from the rafters if she were *not* vaccinated. She’d wear it like a badge of honor, probably emboss it on a t-shirt or get a tattoo saying how *un* vaccinated she is.
What is the mentality behind Americans so adamant about putting everyone else at risk by not getting vaccinated? Is it a lack of maturity? A lack of emotional intelligence?
The virus will keep mutating if we don’t reach herd immunity. We’ve seen this with the Delta variant. Will we have to go through the whole Greek alphabet, have school and restaurants shut down every six months or so, wear masks for the rest of our lives because Lousiana man and the like don’t like to be told what to do by the big, bad, controlling government?
Even someone as seemingly smart as Naval Ravikant, an entrepreneur and investor popular on Twitter, tweets and retweets anti-mask and anti-vaccination threads.
Is his freedom for having to get a vaccine and mask-free existence more important than everyone else’s?
The Emotionally Unintelligent
Here are some common reasons for vaccine hesitancy, which include people who simply “didn’t get around to it” to the fervent anti-vaxxer.
- Lack of confidence in your health care provider
- Complacency (not believing you need a vaccine)
- The inconvenience of getting a vaccine when you need one
- The belief that vaccines are toxic poisons and shouldn’t be put into our bodies
- People who share conspiracy theories that Big Pharma is manipulating people for profit
But the Louisiana man in the video didn’t say any of this. He just doesn’t want someone else’s agenda shoved “down his throat.” He does say, “there are too many issues with these vaccines.” Yet, that is not true. No one has died from getting the Covid vaccine. The virus has killed many unvaccinated people though. So there is a lack of common sense there.
Vaccines have a far lower mortality rate than flying in an airplane. I’m assuming this guy flies in planes to travel.
Arrogance
This mistrust by a large segment of the anti-vaxxer movement is arrogance. When it comes to vaccines, anti-vaxxers think they know more than the “microbiologists who have spent lifetimes studying the minutiae of viral and bacterial infections.”
It’s arrogance to think you know everything.
It takes humility to acknowledge that you don’t know everything, our world is complex, and there may be some people with backgrounds in science and medicine who know more than you do.
Per Psychologytoday.com,
The hubris displayed by those who are hesitant to vaccinate should be a clue to their insecurity. People who constantly say they know everything about anything make me suspect they know very little but are afraid to admit their limitations.
A Lack of Moral or Ethical Obligation to the Greater Good
There is a social contract we live by in society. It says that our individual resilience is dependent on the resilience of the support systems we depend on.
When the pandemic hit and businesses had to shut down, which caused a recession, government stepped in.
For everyone who isn’t holding a pile of Bitcoin like Naval Ravikant, governments step up for those in need. Ravikant has wealth and Bitcoin and will be OK in most situations. If the US democracy fails or a civil war breaks out or the US burns because of climate change, he can access his Bitcoin in any country from a computer and transfer it into cash, gold, a foreign currency or whatever.
For the rest of us, we can’t jet off to another country when this one collapses. We rely on social services, not-for-profits to feed and house the most vulnerable of our society.
Anyone individual’s resilience depends on how well their surrounding systems do their jobs effectively. — Psychology Today
Selfishness and Lack of Social conscience
“The only reason anti-vaxxers can get away with not coming down with polio, measles, or any number of other nasty diseases is because there are enough people who have been vaccinated to create herd immunity.”
When most people fulfill their social obligations and vaccinate, we are all more resilient in the face of a potential outbreak. A refusal to get vaccinated should be seen for what it is: a disregard for the safety of others. Which is like driving while texting or leaving a firearm loaded and unlocked in your home.
