It looks like the rakyat are being punished for exercising their right to choose.
The all-powerful who calls the shots has decreed that “Starting 1 April 2022, fully vaccinated status will turn to ‘incomplete’ without a booster dose”.
It means the couple of million people who have taken two vaccine doses must get a booster to retain their fully vaccinated status by the deadline.
Or else what? Or else they will be automatically classified as “incomplete”.
Oh, but what the heck does incomplete mean actually? My 62-year-old brain is still trying to figure it out in practical terms.
It cannot mean “unvaccinated” right? Because I have been vaccinated — with two doses already.
So what’s the SOP for the incompletely vexed (pun intended, as it’s a rather vexing situation)?
Or are they simply lumped together with the unvaxxed, and therefore subject to the prohibitions of various activities, places, etc.? But wait a minute, that’s not quite right.
How can I suddenly be demoted to “incomplete” status, simply because I make what is really a very personal choice about what to allow into my own body?
How can one human with one stroke of his pen cancel me out just like that, because for whatever reason, I am not keen to take dose number 3, 4, 5…10?
As I recall, way back at the beginning of the pandemic, it was touted that no one would be forced to vaccinate at all. But it looks like the roti canai has been flipped again and again on the frying pan of expediency.
I am left to ponder the ramifications. Like what happens if it’s decided “for our good” that booster number 4 is now necessary. Incidentally, do you ever notice — “it’s always for our good” — is a very familiar well-played mantra?
But I digress…what if some of us, who have been vexed three times, say “enough, no more?”
Will the so-called higher authority pull a date off his calendar and declare all these three-times vexed folks will automatically lose their full vax status if they miss out on boost number 4?
I don’t think it’s necessary to belabour the point by imagining the same scenario for boost 5, 6, 7, ad nauseam, ad infinitum, since no one really knows exactly how this quirky little invisible thing called Covid-19 is going to behave.
I mean, look at the ‘babies’ it has birthed, and we are told to expect more. I think the experts (so-called) will soon be running out of cute names to tag them.
It seems a favourite hobby for big shots to keep moving the goalposts every so often. Pity us players, especially old aunties and uncles running around trying to keep up.
Anyway, just so I don’t blunder thinking it’s just a word change on that app thingy in my phone, I would really appreciate if the powerful people who make decisions that affect ordinary people (like this old aunty) can explain exactly what it means by “incomplete” status.
If I don’t get boosted by April 1, 2022, can I still go to the wet market every day? Does the security guard at the shopping mall have a right to refuse me entry?
Will I be able to catch The Batman in the cinema? Does “incomplete” mean no more teh tarik at my local mamak joint?
If it means all of the above, I am somewhat confused. How did my two-dose vaccination end up as good as zero vaccination?
How can two be counted as zero? Did I miss some new ingenious mathematical breakthrough just discovered in Malaysia?
Gee, like that, I might as well not have bothered getting dosed, especially since even with three shots, I know people who still got infected anyway.
Heck, some even get infected twice over. Sure, I get it, I can accept there’s no guarantee. As far as I am concerned, only God issues lifetime guarantees.
What I don’t get and don’t agree is the arbitrary removal of people’s personal liberties based on a purely discriminatory public policy, which is flawed in itself.
What gives a public official, whose salary is paid by taxpayers’ money, the right to dictate my life according to how many times I am “shot”?
There’s no justification in withdrawing the entitlement that comes from having already taken two doses as the minimum vax required. What’s being passed off now as good as law is legally questionable and morally wrong.
It’s practically forcing people to get boosted, otherwise you are literally “taken out of action”. I can only guess the idea is to make life so miserable, you will just get it done for the sake of convenience.
Sure, it’s so much easier to forget about lofty ideals like individual rights and freedom of choice. Much easier to just be a nice obedient citizen and do whatever Big Government tells us is good for us.
Well, I don’t think I need, nor do I want to be nice or obedient to dictators.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
