The final refusal

See update for September 24, 2021, at end of post.


If you’ve been confused by the decision after decision after decision that seems to plague the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration process on COVID-19 vaccine boosters,[1] well, me too.

But there’s a deeper danger in all this. Simultaneously blaming the coercion of lockdowns and mandates, blaming corporate greed, and criticizing “the compromised, submissive doctrine that calls itself centrism, which leads inexorably towards such extreme outcomes as the Iraq war, endless economic growth and ecological disaster”—damn, he covers a lot of ground—George Monbiot talks about how doubts about elite credibility have infected both the far left (in which I would include myself) and far right, amplifying vaccine resistance and refusal.[2] I’ve written along these lines as well but would broaden Monbiot’s indictment of corporate greed to political as well as economic elite greed, incompetence, and malfeasance.[3] The now profoundly muddled message on booster shots[4] compounds this.

There are so many people we should be getting vaccinated for: the vulnerable among us, the overwhelmed medical staff working in overloaded facilities, the people who need those hospital beds for reasons besides COVID-19, the people not yet eligible for vaccines. We aren’t doing it, there is a tragic crisis that follows from that refusal,[5] and Monbiot argues that conspiracy theories fill the gulf in elite credibility on both the left and the right.[6]

The problem, really, is that we have a social system of organization that relies on elites to be better, smarter, more compassionate human beings than the rest of us—and being humans who have lived their entire lives, like the rest of us, in a profoundly perverse social system of organization,[7] elites are anything but—while simultaneously bringing out the worst in all of us, elites included. We can’t trust our elites but we also can’t trust each other.

My answer to the failure of elites[8] has been anarchism but it has also been apparent that, as a species, we are now so damaged, we are now generally incapable of the goodness and intelligence that anarchism require.[9] The conundrum seems impossible; it is cause for despair.

It is probable we will survive this pandemic. But we as a species face many other existential threats.[10] We are far from the first to do so or to fail to contain such threats; indeed, many species have perished before us. But we see the pattern that, short of a catastrophic asteroid impact, will surely be our undoing. We will perish not because of we cannot do but because of what we will not do.


Update, September 24, 2021: After consulting with my doctor, the outcome of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decision on COVID-19 booster shots[11] for me is that I will be receiving my booster on Sunday, September 26, 184 days since my second shot. It will be Pfizer again. I had hoped for Moderna because there had been some indication that the combination is even more effective,[12] but it is not to be. The original text has been modified.

  1. [1]Stephanie Armour and Jared S. Hopkins, “Biden Administration Likely to Approve Covid-19 Boosters at Six Months,” Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-plans-covid-19-vaccine-boosters-at-six-months-instead-of-eight-11629919356; Jared S. Hopkins and Felicia Schwartz, “FDA Clears Covid-19 Booster Shots From Pfizer for High-Risk People,” Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-clears-covid-19-booster-shots-from-pfizer-for-high-risk-people-11632354542; Carolyn Y. Johnson, Laurie McGinley, and Joel Achenbach, “FDA panel endorses coronavirus boosters for older adults and those at risk of serious illness,” Washington Post, September 17, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/17/covid-booster-shots-fda-recommendation/; Sharon LaFraniere, “U.S. to Advise Boosters for Most Americans 8 Months After Vaccination,” New York Times, August 16, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/us/vaccination-booster-shots.html; Lauran Neergaard and Mike Stobbe, “CDC panel recommends Pfizer booster shots for seniors, declines them for healthcare workers,” Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-09-23/us-covid-booster-shots; Tyler Pager and Laurie McGinley, “Top federal health officials warn that booster shots initially may be limited to Pfizer recipients,” Washington Post, September 3, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/03/booster-shot-delay-pfizer-first/; Lena H. Sun and Laurie McGinley, “Pfizer booster now available to older Americans and those at higher-risk, including on the job, as CDC chief partly overrules panel,” Washington Post, September 24, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/23/covid-booster-shots-cdc/; Leana S. Wen, “The CDC should let Americans decide for themselves if their risk warrants getting a booster shot,” Washington Post, September 21, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/21/fda-limits-booster-shots-at-risk-americans/; Robbie Whelan, “Doctors Left to Decide Who Gets Extra Covid-19 Vaccines Amid Booster Debate,” Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-left-to-decide-who-gets-extra-covid-19-vaccines-amid-booster-debate-11632130200
  2. [2]George Monbiot, “Spirited Away,” September 24, 2021, https://www.monbiot.com/2021/09/24/spirited-away/
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Don’t just say #COVIDIOTS,” Not Housebroken, April 19, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/19/dont-just-say-covidiots/; David Benfell, “The pandemic and a crisis of illegitimate authority,” Not Housebroken, May 14, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/05/12/the-pandemic-and-a-crisis-of-illegitimate-authority/; David Benfell, “We need to do everything different,” Not Housebroken, July 30, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/07/30/we-need-to-do-everything-different/; David Benfell, “The mysterious expectation that elites give a damn,” Not Housebroken, December 30, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/08/01/the-mysterious-expectation-that-elites-give-a-damn/; David Benfell, “The pandemic as a harbinger,” Not Housebroken, October 9, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/10/09/the-pandemic-as-a-harbinger/; David Benfell, “Imagine a malicious elite,” Not Housebroken, December 30, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/18/imagine-a-malicious-elite/
  4. [4]Stephanie Armour and Jared S. Hopkins, “Biden Administration Likely to Approve Covid-19 Boosters at Six Months,” Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-plans-covid-19-vaccine-boosters-at-six-months-instead-of-eight-11629919356; Jared S. Hopkins and Felicia Schwartz, “FDA Clears Covid-19 Booster Shots From Pfizer for High-Risk People,” Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-clears-covid-19-booster-shots-from-pfizer-for-high-risk-people-11632354542; Carolyn Y. Johnson, Laurie McGinley, and Joel Achenbach, “FDA panel endorses coronavirus boosters for older adults and those at risk of serious illness,” Washington Post, September 17, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/17/covid-booster-shots-fda-recommendation/; Lauran Neergaard and Mike Stobbe, “CDC panel recommends Pfizer booster shots for seniors, declines them for healthcare workers,” Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-09-23/us-covid-booster-shots; Tyler Pager and Laurie McGinley, “Top federal health officials warn that booster shots initially may be limited to Pfizer recipients,” Washington Post, September 3, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/03/booster-shot-delay-pfizer-first/; Lena H. Sun and Laurie McGinley, “Pfizer booster now available to older Americans and those at higher-risk, including on the job, as CDC chief partly overrules panel,” Washington Post, September 24, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/23/covid-booster-shots-cdc/; Leana S. Wen, “The CDC should let Americans decide for themselves if their risk warrants getting a booster shot,” Washington Post, September 21, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/21/fda-limits-booster-shots-at-risk-americans/; Robbie Whelan, “Doctors Left to Decide Who Gets Extra Covid-19 Vaccines Amid Booster Debate,” Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-left-to-decide-who-gets-extra-covid-19-vaccines-amid-booster-debate-11632130200
  5. [5]Brianna Abbott, “Delta Variant Accounts for 83% of Known U.S. Covid-19 Cases,” Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/delta-variant-accounts-for-83-of-known-covid-19-cases-11626807019; Brianna Abbott, “Covid-19 Rise, Vaccine Hesitancy Frustrate Doctors in Hospitals Saturated by the Delta Variant,” Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-rise-vaccine-hesitancy-frustrate-doctors-in-hospitals-saturated-by-the-delta-variant-11628760602; Joel Achenbach, “In this summer of covid freedom, disease experts warn: ‘The world needs a reality check,’” Washington Post, July 17, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/in-this-summer-of-covid-freedom-disease-experts-warn-the-world-needs-a-reality-check/2021/07/17/895be6e8-e58c-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html; Joseph Ax and Nathan Layne, “Delta variant surges across U.S. South; political leaders clamp down again,” Reuters, August 3, 2021, copy in possession of author; Sam Baker, “Coronavirus cases are soaring, especially in the South,” Axios, August 26, 2021, https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-cases-infections-vaccines-hospital-11d44b25-ed17-40cd-b8cf-ca9c4eb582f5.html; Timothy Bella, “Alabama man dies after being turned away from 43 hospitals as covid packs ICUs, family says,” Washington Post, September 12, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/12/alabama-ray-demonia-hospitals-icu/; Max Boot, “Republicans are preventing America from reaching Biden’s vaccination goal,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/06/republican-antivaxxers-biden-vaccination-goal/; Hailey Branson-Potts, “Mortuaries fill, hospitals clog in rural California towns with low vaccination rates,“ Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-28/la-me-rural-california-covid-surge-vaccinations-lag; Philip Bump, “A third of White conservatives refuse to get vaccinated — a refusal shown in polling and the real world,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/06/third-white-conservatives-refuse-get-vaccine-refusal-shown-both-polling-real-world/; Jenny Deam, “A Boy Went to a COVID-Swamped ER. He Waited for Hours. Then His Appendix Burst,” ProPublica, September 15, 2021, https://www.propublica.org/article/a-boy-went-to-a-covid-swamped-er-he-waited-for-hours-then-his-appendix-burst; Dan Diamond, “‘I’m still not planning to get it’: FDA approval not swaying some vaccine holdouts,” Washington Post, August 25, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/25/fda-approval-vaccine-holdouts/; Dan Diamond, Hannah Knowles, and Tyler Pager, “Vaccine hesitancy morphs into hostility, as opposition to shots hardens,” Washington Post, July 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/covid-vaccines-biden-trump/2021/07/15/adaf6c7e-e4bd-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html; Dan Diamond and Tyler Pager, “‘Patience has worn thin’: Frustration mounts over vaccine holdouts,” Washington Post, July 23, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/23/anger-targets-vaccine-holdouts-delta-surge/; Chandelis Duster, “Fauci: ‘We’re going in the wrong direction’ on Covid-19 cases,” CNN, July 25, 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/25/politics/anthony-fauci-covid-19-unvaccinated-cnntv/index.html; Aya Elamroussi, “‘This is starting to look really ominous in the South,’ expert says, as US is among nations with highest rate of new Covid-19 cases,” CNN, August 14, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/14/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html; Melanie Evans and Julie Wernau, “Unvaccinated Americans Are Behind Rising Covid-19 Hospitalizations,” Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/unvaccinated-covid-19-hospitalizations-11626528110; Marisa Fernandez, “As hospitals fill, more ambulances forced to wait,” Axios, August 27, 2021, https://www.axios.com/local-ems-covid-surge-wait-times-611657fc-8ddf-4b32-a6dc-c7f2eb799487.html; Maggie Fox, “Unvaccinated people are ‘variant factories,’ infectious diseases expert says,” CNN, July 3, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/03/health/unvaccinated-variant-factories/index.html; David Frum, “Vaccinated America Has Had Enough,” Atlantic, July 23, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/vaccinated-america-breaking-point-anti-vaxxers/619539/; Emma Goldberg and Emily Anthes, “Hospitalizations for children sharply increase as Delta surges, C.D.C. studies find,” New York Times, September 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/health/delta-children-hospitalization-rates.html; Courtney Ann Jackson, “Mississippi doctors still urging folks to get vaccinated as Delta variant becomes dominant COVID strain,” WLBT, July 5, 2021, https://www.wlbt.com/2021/07/06/mississippi-doctors-still-urging-folks-get-vaccinated-delta-variant-becomes-dominant-covid-strain/; Peter Jamison, “Their neighbors called covid-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/06/appalachian-covid-deniers-nurses-virginia/; Jenny Jarvie, Richard Read, and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “With Delta surging, America is dangerously divided over vaccines,” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-08-05/united-states-covid-vaccines-divisions; Ron Kampeas, “In latest Nazi analogy, Marjorie Taylor Greene invokes ‘medical brown shirts’ in decrying vaccination outreach,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 7, 2021, https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/in-latest-nazi-analogy-marjorie-taylor-greene-invokes-medical-brown-shirts-in-decrying-vaccination-outreach; Juliette Kayyem, “Unvaccinated People Need to Bear the Burden,” Atlantic, August 3, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/unvaccinated-flight-vaccine-tsa-mandate/619643/; Brett Kelman, “Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19,” Nashville Tennessean, July 13, 2021, https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/health/2021/07/13/tennessee-halts-all-vaccine-outreach-minors-not-just-covid-19/7928701002/; Dhruv Khullar, “One half of America is protected. The other is approaching a perilous moment in the pandemic,” New Yorker, June 23, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/the-delta-variant-is-a-grave-danger-to-the-unvaccinated; Ed Kilgore, “The Willfully Unvaccinated Are the Newest Republican Martyrs,” New York, July 13, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/the-willfully-unvaccinated-are-the-newest-republican-martyrs.html; Hannah Knowles, “DeSantis sells ‘Don’t Fauci My Florida’ merch as new coronavirus cases near highest in nation,” Washington Post, July 14, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/13/desantis-fauci-florida/; Jeremy Kohler, “GOP Legislators in Missouri Oppose Vaccine Efforts as State Becomes COVID Hotspot,” Pro Publica, July 21, 2021, https://www.propublica.org/article/missouri-legislators-oppose-vaccine-efforts-as-state-becomes-covid-hotspot; Oliver Laughland and Jessica Glenza, “Inside a Tennessee hospital grappling with Delta and vaccine hesitancy,” Guardian, July 24, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/24/tennessee-coronavirus-covid-delta-variant-cases-vaccines; David Litt, “Republicans used to laud ‘personal responsibility’. Not with Covid,” Guardian, July 30, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/30/republicans-used-to-laud-personal-responsibility-not-with-covid; Katie MacBride, [Twitter thread], Thread Reader App, August 21, 2021, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1429287685244420101.html; Apoorva Mandavilli, “Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe,” New York Times, May 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/covid-herd-immunity-vaccine.html; Ruth Marcus, “Require the vaccine. It’s time to stop coddling the reckless,” Washington Post, July 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/30/require-vaccine-its-time-stop-coddling-reckless/; Michael McGough, “Sacramento hospitals ‘at capacity’ and COVID deaths at 6-month high as delta spreads,” Sacramento Bee, August 26, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article253761928.html; Chris Megerian, “Biden’s coronavirus success threatened by political divisions he pledged to heal,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-04-27/bidens-coronavirus-success-threatened-by-political-divisions-he-pledged-to-heal; Luke Money, “ICU beds filling up in San Joaquin Valley, triggering hospital surge order,” Los Angeles Times, September 3, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-03/icu-bed-filling-up-in-san-joaquin-valley-triggering-hospital-surge-order; Luke Money and Rong-Gong Lin, II, “Tougher tactics targeting the unvaccinated needed to stop new COVID-19 spike, experts say,” Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-14/to-slow-covid-19-rise-door-to-door-vaccine-outreach-and-workplace-requirements-could-help; Eileen Drage O’Reilly, “Monster risk: Fauci says COVID cases 10x too high,” Axios, September 9, 2021, https://www.axios.com/fauci-no-control-covid-a2572210-dbdb-48b0-aa2e-92e8e9fcd69a.html; Grace Panetta, “GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert calls Biden’s door-to-door vaccinators ‘needle Nazis,’” Yahoo! News, July 8, 2021, https://news.yahoo.com/gop-rep-lauren-boebert-calls-130015902.html; Betsy Phillips, “I was supposed to have life-saving surgery. Tennessee’s covid-19 surge cost me a hospital bed,” Washington Post, September 14, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/14/tennessee-covid-19-surge-hospital-beds-surgery/; Ed Pilkington and Lauren Aratani, “US seeing ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ as cases rise in every state,” Guardian, July 16, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/16/covid-19-us-delta-variant-unvaccinated; Jennifer Rubin, “Americans have had it with vaccine refusers and anti-mandate politicians,” Washington Post, August 4, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/04/americans-have-had-it-with-vaccine-refusers-anti-mandate-pols/; Greg Sargent, “A vile new Trump-GOP claim about vaccines suggests trouble ahead,” Washington Post, July 19, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/19/vile-new-trump-gop-claim-about-vaccines-suggests-trouble-ahead/; Rob Stein and Selena Simmons-Duffin, “The Delta Variant Will Drive A Steep Rise In U.S. COVID Deaths, A New Model Shows,” National Public Radio, July 22, 2021, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/22/1019475669/delta-variant-will-drive-a-steep-rise-in-covid-deaths-model-shows; Lena H. Sun and Joel Achenbach, “Unvaccinated people were 11 times more likely to die of covid-19, CDC report finds,” Washington Post, September 10, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/10/moderna-most-effective-covid-vaccine-studies/; Sudhin Thanawala and Jay Reeves, “Virus surge breaks hospital records amid rising toll on kids,” Sacramento Bee, August 26, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/article253764343.html; Zeynep Tufekci, “The Fourth Surge Is Upon Us. This Time, It’s Different,” Atlantic, March 30, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/03/fourth-surge-variant-vaccine/618463/; Helen Ubiñas, “Stop begging the COVID bullies. We can’t ‘nice’ people into doing the right thing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 13, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/covid-masks-mandates-vaccines-philadelphia-mayor-kenney-helen-ubinas-20210813.html; Paul Waldman, “Right-wing anti-vaccine hysteria is increasing. We’ll all pay the price,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/08/right-wing-anti-vaccine-hysteria-is-increasing-well-all-pay-price/; Paul Waldman, “I’m tired of being nice to vaccine refusers,” Washington Post, July 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/27/im-tired-being-nice-vaccine-refusers/; Paul Waldman, “Time to say it: We’re done with the vaccine refusers,” Washington Post, August 23, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/23/time-say-it-were-done-with-vaccine-refusers/; Leana S. Wen, “The CDC needs to make clear: The problem is the unvaccinated,” Washington Post, July 29, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/29/leana-wen-cdc-mask-guidance-unvaccinated-problem/; Paige Williams, “Mississippi’s Hospital System Is Rapidly Approaching Statewide Failure,” New Yorker, August 17, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/mississippis-hospital-system-is-rapidly-approaching-statewide-failure
  6. [6]George Monbiot, “Spirited Away,” September 24, 2021, https://www.monbiot.com/2021/09/24/spirited-away/
  7. [7]Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (Abingdon, Oxon, England, 1956; repr. 2010).
  8. [8]Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites (New York: Crown, 2021); C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University, 1959, repr. 2000).
  9. [9]David Benfell, “Why we won’t respond to climate change,” Not Housebroken, October 16, 2018, https://disunitedstates.org/2018/10/16/why-we-wont-respond-to-climate-change/
  10. [10]Andrew Sheeler, “Jerry Brown urges America to ‘wake up’ as Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight,” Sacramento Bee, January 23, 2020, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article239564083.html
  11. [11]Lena H. Sun and Laurie McGinley, “Pfizer booster now available to older Americans and those at higher-risk, including on the job, as CDC chief partly overrules panel,” Washington Post, September 24, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/23/covid-booster-shots-cdc/
  12. [12]Tala Michel Issa, “Is it safe to mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines? Here’s what we know so far,” Al Arabiya, June 23, 2021, https://english.alarabiya.net/coronavirus/2021/06/23/s-it-safe-to-mix-and-match-COVID-19-vaccines-Here-s-what-we-know-so-far