To the Editor:
Over the weekend, I happened upon a news item where reporter (Ms.) Alex Wagner interviewed Anthony Sabatini, the state legislator who said last March he was going to challenge Rep. Daniel Webster for Florida’s 11th Congressional district that includes The Villages. Whether Sabatini goes through with this remains unknown (at least to me), but with his views on masks, social distancing, even requiring COVID-19 vaccines, we all should be fearful. This guy, so Reporter Wagner said on air, wants to legislate a state ban on any requirements for vaccines, etc.—despite Florida’s atrocious statistics on the coronavirus’ deaths, hospitalizations and infections we have all seen. He asserts individual liberty to be vaccinated or not to bolster his (warped in my opinion) thinking. The same goes for Mississippi where its governor declares to let his state’s residents decide whether to be vaccinated or not, but if it were a country, has the most COVID-19 deaths per capita of any country in the world, behind only Chile. And then there is neighboring Alabama which announced that in 2020, it had more deaths from COVID-19 than it had births in its entire state history. And that is where the title to this op-ed comes in.
Our democracy is not based on individual liberty all the time in all circumstances. That is its price. At times, certainly in a national health emergency such as the coronavirus has “visited” upon our country and our state, public health measures catapult over individual liberty. Just look to the Supreme Court as far back as the 1905 and 1922 cases it decided, upholding mandatory vaccinations (smallpox) and-17 years later-vaccinations for children before their entering school.
In the end, relying upon the incredible amount of misinformation surrounding how to beat COVID-19 is a one way ticket to serious illness and even death. For those of us in The Villages, it should be a sure bet that life will always be the prevailing choice over death, and that to remain healthy should be our right never to be infringed upon by those that want to remain unvaccinated. Mr. Sabatini, are you listening?
Miles Zaremski
Village of Dunedin