[haertig]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I am sick of hearing about "vaccine hesitancy" when not everybody has been given the choice or opportunity to get a vaccine yet.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

So it's definitely too early to say "everyone has had their chance". In the US, perhaps, but not elsewhere in the world, not even in the EU.

Which is why I said:

Originally Posted by haertig

In most parts of the USA now, if you are not vaccinated you are that way by choice. There are of course exceptions to this, and there always will be. But generally speaking, people have been allowed to make their choice, and they have done so (in the USA, but not necessarily true in other countries).

So I have been talking about my own country, not every country of the world. I even put two disclaimers of that in my statement above. Perhaps next time I should try three? It does not make sense to me for people in the USA to continue wearing masks unnecessarily because people in Canada and other countries have not been able to get the vaccine. Relaxing mask mandates in Canada, India, parts of the EU, and a few other places may indeed be premature. Although I never agreed with mandates in the USA in the first place - suggestions and guidance, yes, mandates, no.