Don’t risk life for natural immunity

Chuck Jasper wrote recently about (1) not vaccinating those already recovered from COVID, and (2) not reducing our greenhouse gas emissions until China and India act first.

The premise of Jasper's argument against vaccination of those recovered from COVID is that a naturally acquired immunity is equal to or superior to immunity through vaccination. The scientific judgment on this is yet undecided. Thus, the question now is whether to take a safe and effective vaccine or risk your life with a possibly inferior natural immunity.

On the issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Jasper repeats the often heard argument that until China and India act, we shouldn't. Put another way, the US shouldn't do the right thing unless others do it first. Let's see how this can be applied elsewhere in our lives. Lots of people are con artists and make good money at it. Therefore, until others stop conning we should all con. Here's another. Many countries torture and otherwise mistreat their captured POWs. The US has been different in usually treating our war captives well and humanely. Should America's standards for POW treatment be set by our enemies?

Imagine Moses on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. Moses reads the tablet and says, “I'm going to ignore these rules. Why handicap ourselves with high standards while others prosper without any standards?”