Vindication for the Unvaccinated?

At a recent family gathering, I sat at the dinner table with a group of loved ones for the first time since the Covid-19 fiasco. Most of the cheerful discussion focused on the spectacular event of the week: my mother’s 100th birthday.

I was the only person at the table who hadn’t had any form of flu for many years, while all of the guests had been ill to one degree or another. Almost everyone had tested positive for Covid at least once over the last few years with accompanying flu symptoms. Although no one in my family was hospitalized or died during the so-called pandemic; they all had been vaccinated repeatedly. As far as I know, my wife and I were the only ones in our families who didn’t get any Covid shot, and I haven’t been inoculated for anything in the last seventy years.

On this happy occasion, the fear, masks, lockdowns, and accusations of the recent past had been mostly forgotten. It was not because the signs and symptoms of the disease had ended, nor that the call for vaccination or testing had been silenced. No one understood why they were still occasionally feeling unwell, with some continuing to report they’d been diagnosed with Covid.

My view of healthcare has always been outside of the box, having practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine for many decades. I’d worked closely with medical doctors in treating some of their patients and also served as the chief medical officer of a volunteer fire department, appreciating life-saving emergency procedures of modern biomedicine. Through a range of experiences, I gained some knowledge of the causes and cures for suffering and illness.

Before the Covid fiasco, my alternative approach to illness had been respected; I’d shared my knowledge with whoever might ask. My medical perspective was no secret from friends and family. When my daughters were young, they weren’t vaccinated as there were no threats of deadly or debilitating diseases. This was in a place and time when vaccination for infants could be considered and refused, not done by rote. There was reasonable dialogue about the topic—and non-compliance certainly did not elicit threats of excommunication.

As the specter of a pandemic arose, my opinion about vaccination became dangerous and irrelevant.

From the outset, it was apparent that the claimed benefits of the new vaccines did not outweigh their risks. I openly said and wrote that the technology remained untested—though never advised anyone to refrain from inoculation—only counseling those who listened to remain fully informed.

It wasn’t complicated. Using genetic-based technology in developing a new drug that attempted to manipulate the magnificent complexity of the human immune system was at a minimum, a gamble. As easily demonstrated, this new technology embraced the bold assumption that human design was flawed and could be improved. It was premature to declare that this experimental treatment was safe and effective. We still don’t know the actual long-term effects—particularly over generations.

This simple and logical evaluation was considered preposterous by those who responded to the seemingly new disease with unbridled fear. The danger of the Covid flu was deemed sufficient to quell all reasonable responses about the risks of the vaccines. Suddenly, there was an eclipse of medical autonomy, and debate was scorned. The actions and motives of corrupted government agencies and their profit-oriented allies in Big Pharma were blessed by devious leaders, who deemed them altruistic and unquestionable.

This atmosphere, developed and enforced in a haze of authoritarian dictates, created an unprecedented climate of hostility that infected all relationships. Because of my views and unvaccinated status, I rapidly became a pariah to my family.

Early on, when the fear tactics were in high gear, my cousin, who is an attorney involved in healthcare issues, sent a blistering email, condemning one of my first articles skewering the pandemic response. He left no room for dialogue and writing, it is the height of irresponsibility to add to the disinformation that is everywhere about the Covid vaccine. He concluded…

I am really upset that you have chosen to use your talents and thoughtful manner to give credence to the kind of wrongheaded rhetoric and conspiracy theories that feed the mass hysteria over accepting the reality that if we are to beat this pandemic, we need to not just take the vaccine if we want to, but take it on a societal level whether certain individuals want to or not. Your call for “transparency” just further feeds a certain, huge segment of the populations’ belief that they know better than the experts on this issue. They do not. You do not. I do not. But every reputable researcher and medical professional who has reviewed this data agree —it is safe, it is effective, and it is critical.

The venom exuded in response to my unwillingness to join in the mass delusion supporting vaccination was palpable. My crime was unforgivable.

Although we had been very close, all contact ended. However, it was not his unconscious, misdirected anger that troubled me, rather that he shared his views and wrath with my daughters, supporting their inclination to distance themselves from me because of my independent views. This wound with my cousin may never heal.

My mother, who had cordially disagreed with me on vaccination, balanced his bias with sound advice to her granddaughters. She urged them not to be harsh, suggesting that whatever differences they see, these were not worthy of destroying their relationship with their father. Thanks to her wise counsel, the love my daughters and I share has survived.

This and similar events had been left smoldering. In the spring of 2025, at this happy gathering celebrating my mom’s longevity, to my surprise, the topic turned to Covid. (My cousin was not there.) Conversation comprised mostly of personal accounts of suffering and confessions of a lack of understanding of why the virus persisted.

My sister said she’d attended a lecture at a local college on the history of the social response to mass infection. She described the common human responses and behaviors to past epidemics and pandemics, including how scapegoating was a dominant and destructive response.

Managing to remain quiet until all had acknowledged these horrors of the past, I spoke up, voicing a simple question: Did the recent Covid pandemic fit this pattern?

Of course, was the answer.

I innocently replied, And what group was reproached and attacked for causing the Covid pandemic?

There was a considered pause, and then everyone agreed, it was the Chinese.

With certainty I said, There were questions about whether an animal market or a lab leak was the initiating cause, but the Chinese as a culture or a nation were never blamed. Wasn’t there another group that became the scapegoats?

No one seemed to be willing to consider this inquiry, and I was pressed to say who I believed was targeted.

The vast majority of health professionals, public figures, including actors and business leaders, government medical agencies and the entire administration stood behind the President of the United States who openly declared that this was a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The press echoed this vicious attack. A majority of Americans did not object to this belligerent contrivance, but there was never any evidence that the unvaccinated had caused or exacerbated the pandemic. Wasn’t this overt and classic scapegoating?

There was dead silence at the table. I expected some defense of my assessment, but there was none. Then suddenly my brother (who had been vaccinated and had been ill a few times) spoke up loudly and emotionally, almost in tears, saying, I don’t want to hear any more about Covid—it has caused enough pain and suffering—and we should stop talking about it.

As he was trembling with emotion, I gently suggested that he leave the table and he did. His explosive declaration ended any conversation about the topic—there was no further response to my contention; I didn’t push it further.

My brother soon returned and unnecessarily apologized for his outburst. Though seemingly irrational, it was a direct response to my assertion—he had processed it as best he could. No one else had responded to my suggestion that they had participated in scapegoating the unvaccinated; he failed to recognize his ethical transgression, though had at least expressed some emotion.

It became apparent that historical atrocities are much easier to recognize than more recent iniquities. Few have admitted that ignorance, anger, and the demeaning of innocent people in response to Covid was an egregious, unfounded violation of human rights.

Those who sat with me at this table—and millions of others—have not considered the eclipse of their compassion and rationality. Few people can confess to having been manipulated into indefensible, loathsome conduct. They would have to see their similarity with those in past pandemics, who had projected blame and abused innocents for the suffering they were feeling. It takes a brave soul to admit that their emptiness and desperation caused them to display venom, disdain, and violence.

Because of the unwillingness to face the truth, the unrecognized pain and tears of those who questioned or refused mass vaccination remain unhealed, continuing a climate where repressive tactics and regimes are tolerated.

No matter how much information about the abuses of powerful forces during the pandemic, no matter how much data supports the dangers of the Covid response, no matter how much is learned about the deviant behavior of leadership and government agencies, the unvaccinated have yet to be vindicated.

Self-serving, unconscious attitudes continue to dominate, confirming human nature has not evolved since the plagues of the Dark Ages. In times of difficulty and stress, it remains more convenient and simpler to find others at fault, rather than perceive our failures.

This article was originally published by the Brownstone Institute. David Marks is a veteran investigative reporter and documentary producer. He has made films for PBS Frontline and the BBC, including Nazi Gold, which challenged the assumption of Switzerland’s neutrality in WWII.

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