Well, so much for the $5 million carrot in Colorado’s fight against the pandemic. Time for the big stick.
Colorado was one of a handful of states last month that jumped on the vaccine lottery idea, spending a whopping $5 million on the hopes that a far-less-than one-in-a-million chance in winning a million bucks would motivate vax-i-nots to inoculate against COVID-19.
Both the disease and the vaccine are free to everyone in Colorado.
An Associated Press report last week pointed out that states like Colorado, creating big lottery give-a-ways, have not moved the needles into the arms of unvaccinated people like proponents had gambled on.
Let’s set aside for now that Colorado, Ohio, New Mexico and a few other states have spent millions of dollars to hand it over to just a few people, thinking that vaccine lottery chances would persuade people to drop their objections and roll up their sleeves.
It was a nice try.
It was typical of Gov. Jared Polis, who as a state school board member, a congressional legislator and now as governor believes that it’s far better to persuade people to do the right thing, rather than force them.
Some may think I’m far more jaded than Polis. I prefer to call it pragmatic. But here is my observation of people who don’t pay their fair share of taxes, don’t vaccinate their kids against childhood illnesses to go to school, don’t wear masks in public during a pandemic, don’t drive even reasonably safely on highways, water the hell every day out of their giant grassy yards and don’t get a free, available-anywhere-anytime safe and effective vaccine against a pandemic that has killed millions of people and financially destroyed many times more.
People like that are selfish, thoughtless and conniving.
I don’t see any qualities there that strike me as a person who would think a lottery chance would send them running for the nearest vaccine pop-up clinic. In fact, a lot of the people are so foolishly set against being vaccinated, they frequently say, “not for a million dollars,” let alone a nearly impossible chance at a million dollars.
After giving away four of five million dollars so far, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to teenagers who vaccinate, the rate of vaccination has slumped to the lowest level since December, according to state health department data. The brief 11% bump in vaccinations after the first week of the Colorado Comeback Cash lottery has essentially evaporated here and in every vax-a-million state but California, according to the AP story about the programs.
Polis still has hope.
Without proof, he told the Denver Post last week during the announcement of the fourth lottery winner that the program has been more effective than spending the money on a statewide advertising campaign.
Maybe.
But far more effective at getting people vaccinated and stemming the once-again dangerous spread of even more virulent COVID-19 variants in Colorado, would be the proverbial big stick.
It’s time for vaccine passports.
No vax patch and proof of inoculation? Mask up, when you’re in the stores. No more honor system for people who have none.
Less than two-thirds of everyone over 12 is fully vaccinated in Colorado, and by far, the greatest percentage of those vaccinated are older folks. Despite that, other than a handful of employees in places like stores, restaurants, bars and movie theaters, almost no one is wearing a mask any more.
This isn’t just an eye-rolling annoyance, folks. Every medical expert in the state agrees that this is extremely dangerous, especially because new variants spreading among Colorado residents are more contagious and more likely to inflict greater illness in its victims. And while being fully vaccinated greatly increases the chances you won’t be sickened by the delta variant or others, it’s happening right now, and there are a few people in Colorado hospitalized with “breakthrough” COVID-19 cases.
Since the science is clear that masking reduces the spread of the virus, the state has to make people not vaccinated wear masks in public, not just ask them. That, after a great deal of harrumphing, has already been decided.
Thousands of bars, restaurants and other public venues are reopening or turning their bars and dining rooms into the fun and profitable places they once were. That privilege should be reserved only for establishments that ensure everyone inside are fully vaccinated patrons and employees.
In your twenties with a pocketful of cash and the need for a beer but don’t want to vaccinate? Bummer, bruh. Stay home and check out your buds on Instagram living the life, or get vaccinated and join them.
That would be motivating. And for those vacci-knot-heads who do their research on Facebook and put their faith in other vacci-nut-jobs instead of the entire science and medical community, including their own doctor? They’ll be safer in their bunker until this thing truly goes away.
Quit spending money on useless carrot schemes. Save the cash for the few who need a ride or a day off after getting the vaccine and can’t manage it on their own.
Too many have died. Too many lives have been ruined. Too much has been lost. And the potential for even more death and disaster is still far too great to just hope people who often live their lives in the dark will suddenly see the light.
Bring out the stick so we can all say, “thanks a million.”
Follow @EditorDavePerry on Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
They should give all the people that received the vaccine a check instead it might have been a better turn out and would have cost the state alot less money.
I knew it was a waste of money!
Communist.
This is just another medical freedom people are free to choose. Kind of like abortion. Your body your choice right? You don’t get to say things like that and then say people who are opposed to a vaccine are dumb.
Truth!
If you came home and found your wife playing Russian Roulette with the neighbor, I’m pretty sure you would think it’s a dumb thing to do.
Remaining unvaccinated is the same thing, eventually you WILL come down with COVID-19. This virus will be around until the entire planet is vaccinated or develops herd immunity, likely several years at this point. Do it for the people you love who will miss you when you’re gone. Do it for your kids who will live a lesser life without you to provide for them. Do it for yourself so you don’t regret the opportunity when you’re in the ICU on a vent.
Um, with Russian roulette, you live or die. Covid 19 isn’t like that. That’s a stupid comparison.
Shut up.puppet.
That is the same as saying “If you don’t get a flu/pneumonia/HPV/shingles vaccine, you WILL get one of those diseases. And yet, we know that’s not true. I don’t get those shots, and I don’t get sick. But here’s the thing: It is MY choice and if I do get sick, I have no one to blame but myself, and I am OK with that. I will NOT however, infect anyone else, because if I get sick, I will self-quarantine. Now that is something people with Covid have not done.
Also, the Covid shot does not prevent anyone from acquiring the virus, getting sick, or transmitting it.
With the vaccine you may be less likely to transmit the virus because it never reaches the titer that it would because your immune system is primed with the vaccine to snuff it out immediately. It takes 2 weeks after your second vaccine shot before you are immune. With the virus it will infect your cells, integrate into your DNA and produce more virus until a level is reached that your immune system can detect it. At this point your immune system has to ramp up to a level that overcomes the virus which for COVID can take 10 more days. Even after your immune system get rid of most of the virus and you feel better, you are at risk for having Covid in your body lying dormant which is why they want you to get vaccinated even after you had COVID to make sure it doesn’t propagate again to make you feel sick again. The vaccine primes your immune system to act more efficiently and effectively earlier on to minimize your COVID course.
If only it were a true vaccine!
You are correct about freedom of choice. People who refuse the vaccine have every right to do so. However, given the evidence of how safe and effective the vaccine is and how deadly COVID is it is also ok to consider the vaccine hesitant misinformed or misled at this point.
Has anyone seen the new WHO warning about the DELTA VARIANT???? Even the vaccinated folks should continue to WEAR A MASK AND SOCIAL DISTANCE!! Everyone who got the vaccine is still at risk! This is scary and I’m worried about all of us! The judgements need to stop. We should all respect each other’s freedom of choice. We are in this together and GOD willing, we will get through it.
If you should still wear a mask, even if you’re vaccinated, then WHY get the vaccine? Also, if it’s in god’s hands, again why vaccine. “He” will take care of you.
Yahweh doesn’t work that way. If he did, then it could be said that he created this disease and caused the pandemic. People get sick and people die, Yahweh notwithstanding.
I personally think there is so much about the virus itself and the shot that no one has yet figured out. And now, on top of that, there are a myriad of variants. And they tell us “The shot SHOULD protect you from those.” Should???? Really??? Is that kind of statement good medicine?
Except the “science” isn’t clear, regarding mask usage. Actually to speak such a statement is to ignore provable science as well as to completely disregard the Fauci Emails. This article is bogus.
I don’t actually believe that masks or social distancing are fool-proof. People have still been getting sick. And it’s been proven that particles travel 27 feet, not 6.
Absolutely NOT!
Mr. Perry, your article comes across as virtue signaling, self-righteous nonsense!
1) Ever heard of HIPPA? Whether or not someone is vaccinated, is LEGALLY protected information.
2) Ever heard of Adolf Hitler? You know… the guy who came up with the idea of forcing Jews to wear a Star of David patch, when out in public? Your “passport” notion is basically the same thing.
3) In addition to the FACT that masks (other than N95) are about as effective as a chain link fence is at keeping mosquitoes away, a mask mandate is NOT a law. Period.
From a personal standpoint:
~~ I am highly susceptible to side effects from drugs.
~~ I have never had a flu shot, and I have never had the flu.
You’re being a little hard on Dave, comparing him to Hitler and, by extension, Trump.
I have leukemia. Very immune compromised. But haven’t gotten ANY infection in over a year, when I was given 5 days to live. Doctor said it was OK to get the J&J vaccine, so I did, even though I really didn’t want to. Now, do I think for even a millisecond that I am immune? Not on your life. If I am “meant” to die from Covid, I will and am not worried, because I will otherwise die of something from leukemia. (Which usually is some type of infection.) Just another perspective.
I’m sorry you have leukemia. Another good thing about the COVID vaccine is that they are using the same technology to develop new therapies for cancer. Please stay as safe as possible and consider joining a clinical trial for your leukemia if you have exhausted all the other options. The goal of course is to cure cancer, but second best is to change it from a lethal disorder to a chronic one until the cure is identified. I’m hoping something as awesome as these COVID vaccines is developed for your leukemia.
The guy that wrote this is out of his mind. No research, no references no nothing. Safe? Tell that to the kids that have died and others with vaccine injuries. Just because people don’t think the risk of Covid is worse than the risk of the vaccine (ALL vaccines have risk so NEVER make stupid statements like they are safe), does not make them bad people. They have looked at the risk benefit comparison and made a choice. Go live in another country if you want to be controlled. Don’t bully and judge others.
ALL shots and all medications have side effects, i.e. risks. Each of us has to weigh those for ourself.
Well them I’m selfish because I refuse the vaccine because I have a higher chance of the killing me more than covid, got all kinds of issues with medications. Plus this wonderful vaccine that you’re pushing isn’t even for the “strain” that’s going around so what’s the point. Also, I didn’t think that there was a vaccine for a virus and that’s why the flu shot is pointless as well (never had one of those eitherand never had the flu). So please take your pandering and trampling of the 14th amendment somewhere else.
Since the government is not (yet) mandating a shot, the 14th Amendment does not enter in to the discussion. Private entities and business can require it all day long without ever running afoul of the Constitution.
I am neither a tax evader or a selfish person, but, I don’t believe even half of what we have been told about this virus. I think most of what we were told was manipulated and falsified. When you have a vaccine that is fully FDA approved, I will consider getting a vaccine, not a minute sooner.
I don’t happen to believe 99% of what the government tells us. I wasn’t born yesterday and I have been paying attention.
people that don’t vaccinate are conniving? The governor is literally bribing people to get the vaccine if that’s not conniving then you need to look up the meaning to the word. You should also look up the Tuskegee experiment. If they did it once they will do it again. Just as they always do. in fact they have. you just have to do a little research and use a little bit of that elbow grease. Of course that’s not the narrative handed to you. So I don’t expect you to lift a finger to do the right thing. Also. It takes years to make a vaccine. It took over a year for the first one. Now there is the delta variation so that requires a different vaccine. Just as every variation before it. Have you people wondered for even a second how in the hell they had the delta vaccine almost instantly? Vaccines have never worked like that. Not even when this started. Remember? My body my choice. Why don’t anti vaccers get that choice? If your drugs work for you awsome. But I haven’t been sick in 10 years and I intend on staying that way. Just like I always have. With out man made drugs in my system. Dr.s shell out millions of $every year in medical malpractice lawsuits. Mc.donalds never gets my order right. You stick that needle in your arm druggies!
The government has caused many diseases in the name of “experimentation.”
They don’t have a delta vaccine yet. It just so happens the the COVID vaccines we do have appear to be somewhat effect for the delta variant. Less effective than for the other COVID forms, but still keeping the vaccinated from dying. It is great that the technology has advanced to all the mRNA vaccines to be updated more rapidly though. Hopefully they will be able to keep up with this evolving COVID virus.
And you would absolutely deserve a 2nd Amendment response to your proposed authoritarian measures.
Amen
He’ll be required to join a well-regulated militia? WTF??
Just another wannabe social justice warrior touting off mindless nonsense about how thinks the world should be run. If you want to live in a communist country, move to a communist country. Your cancerous ideas are toxic to those who believe in freedom of mind and body. Unfortunately, there’s no vaccine against your thought process. Spoiled brat
Communists would deny people any beneficial medicine, including so-called vaccines. You got it all wrong. Communists would only provide these for the proletariat.
You know. Thank the government for releasing the virus. Take your mask and your vaccine and shove it up your ass.
This guy sounds like a Nazi
He’s not on the far right.
Yeah, yeah the beatings will continue until morale improves. I bet Dave secretly beats his dog…..
People, take a breath. He’s not saying you have to get the vaccine; you still retain that choice. However, if you do choose that, there will be consequences. Business can tell you to wear a mask or go somewhere else; similar to “No shirt. No shoes, No service”. I believe that the businesses would gladly turn away someone who puts their business at risk of closing yet again rather than taking the risk. So, do what you want and live with the response.
Well said.
I agree the ‘lottery’ was stupid but everything you advocate is tyranny. The vaccine is NOT ‘safe.’ If so, it would not continue to be labeled ‘experimental’ and ‘passports’ are in direct conflict with HIPPA laws.
Back in the day, we used to have a little, yellow booklet the same size as a passport, which had to be presented upon entry to any country. The booklet had an ink stamp for every shot a person had had. I still have mine.
Dave Perry you are a c***. No, I am not taking a shot that is still in testing phases. The fact that you are so stupid and the media for using the word “vaccine” shows your level of stupidity. It is a shot that is all!!! A vaccine by definition makes you immune to it whatever they are “vaccinating” against. You are not f****** immune to it and can still get it, just like the flu!!! This whole thing has been blown up and people who listen to the brainwashing media are the problem.
It is NOT a true vaccine, by definition. Only the government can get away with calling it that, but I won’t.
Wow, Dave, thanks for turning over the rock so all these Trumpers, talk radio listeners, and conspiracy junkies could crawl out! So much misinformation, rage, unexamined ideas and personal attacks. Makes me wonder what happened to our society, which used to be part of a country of discourse about ideas, not brain-stem reactions fueled by fear and hatred.
Those types are easily aroused into a frenzy.
an idiot wrote this NONSENSE
No, they won’t. If people don’t want to get a shot, for WHATEVER reason, that is their prerogative and we have to respect their personal decision. It may not suit our narrative, but we need to try not to control people in a way in which they do not want to be controlled. That’s what the government does, and I am opposed to that.
You all are a bunch of Marxist Communists. Screw you and your big stick you control freak Nazis! What’s next? Tattooed numbers and star patches on the sleeves. You are sick sick oligarchical freaks.
Feel free to have your Pavulon and potassium chloride injections any time, Perry.
After all, the state mandates that for certain people who don’t conform to sheeple norms, too.
The evidence is clear that the vaccine keeps you from dying and out of the hospital even with the delta variant. I’m wearing a mask when I shop and am in close contact with others out of my household. Why because I still don’t really want to get COVID even a mild version but most importantly at this point I don’t want to give it to someone else. Especially someone who is not vaccinated and may have a really severe course like the 600,000 Americans who have died already. Masks and social distancing and the shut down worked well against the cold and flu season, but COVID is more transmissible than the flu.COVID is transmitted at high rates year round. Yes masks and social distancing work, but I’m not perfect al following all the guidelines all the time. It is just a matter of time before I’m exposed to COVID and that is why I’m glad I have the vaccine. The vaccines are awesome. They are saving people’s lives.
The FDA has approved all other vaccines (and flu shots), except this one. Maybe that’s why some individuals are sitting on the fence; observing this two-year experiment in the same way as the FDA.