The UCP government has accepted that your children, teachers, grandparents will get sick and/or die come September. They have made their peace with it. The Premier I'd endorsing op-eds that call it developing "natural immunity". Let's get into that. Short THREAD.

For my doctorate, I studied the history of vaccination in Canada and early state policies aimed at promoting it. Here's one thing I learned: natural immunity kills or maims.

Before vaccines were invented (for smallpox), natural immunity occurred in two ways: you get infected naturally by smallpox and you hope for the best, or you are purposefully "inoculated" (i.e. infected) with the disease. In both cases, sick, maimed or dead.

In essence, not an approach to endorse. In fact, it is an approach to avoid. Purposefully seeking to procure natural immunity from disease equates to encouraging the spread of the disease. No state or government that cares for people should want that.

The earliest public health cases I read punished persons with disease for being out and about and acting as vectors. I criticized the cases because those punished were poor people who had to go to work. My beef was nothing was done to support them. That was in 1812. This is 2020.

It is deeply ignorant and wrong for government to endorse or promote natural immunity as infectious disease management strategy. To say it's a way to save the vulnerable is stupid and dangerous. There are better alternatives. Like safe schools. Income support. Child care.

The goddamn end. I'm mad right now.

*is* (damn autocorrect)