No vaccination card? No problem!

DEAR AMY >> My brother and his wife were both sick with the Coronavirus very early in the pandemic. Thankfully, both recovered with no lingering effects.

However, neither intends to be vaccinated. Because of their experience, they believe it is no worse than the flu, and both have been sharply critical of the government, particularly with regard to public health measures like mask mandates, which they consider unnecessary and infringements of their personal liberty.

Needless to say, they are very conservative in their beliefs and outlook on life, but flexible enough to tolerate me, the educated elitist liberal.

Recently, they flew to another state for a vacation. They thought the airline might require them to show proof of vaccination, which they don’t have and won’t get.

I saw my sister-inlaw borrow the vaccine card of one of her friends with the explicit, articulated intention of reproducing it and falsifying a vaccination card for herself and her spouse (my brother).

I also saw her ask my brother to purchase some heavy stock paper for this purpose, so he knowingly participated in the fraud.

Now I am upset at myself for not saying anything to either of them, and also for not reporting it to anyone.

But I didn’t want to cause a family rift, and I also didn’t have any idea of who such a thing might be reported to. I don’t think they broke any actual laws — perhaps just ethical and moral obligations to society.

However, I now feel like a coward. I have also lost a great deal of respect for them. While the moment for taking action on them has passed, should I do something now?

— Surrounded by

Non-vaxxed

DEAR LIBERAL >> Airlines are not requiring travelers to produce vaccination cards, so your sisterin-law’s James Bond-like daring-do in planning to use a copy machine (wow!) was both dumb and unnecessary.

Your brother and his wife already contracted the virus, and for them (and many others), the illness that accompanied the virus was mild, like other flus they might have had. Lucky them! (Unless they have been tested for the COVID antibody, however, it is possible that they did actually have another illness.)

The issue with this particular virus is how it attacks different people differently, and that is why asymptomatic carriers have presented a risk to others, and why vaccination has been so necessary — and successful.

If they do have the antibodies to the virus, they might not pose a risk of infecting others, but they should still be vaccinated. Different strains emerging might change this equation, and the longerterm protection presented by antibodies is still unclear.

If you know that they are fraudulently presenting someone else’s vaccination card, then you should definitely speak up, even though these two geniuses don’t seem likely to pull off a caper of any great magnitude.