Why are Hawaii politicians ignoring the science by suggesting that those who are fully vaccinated cannot be carriers of a covid-19 infection?
Why are Hawaii politicians ignoring the natural immunity had by more than 81,000 Hawaii residents?
(Note to reader: Hawaii's vaccine mandate requires that in order to enter a city or state office, take part in certain public events, or enter certain private establishments, a person either needs to show proof of vaccination or must present a negative Covid test no older than 72 hours. The mandate ignores the latest science: with the advent of the delta variant, the vaccine is now far less effective and those who are fully vaccinated can very definitely end up contracting the disease, spreading the disease, and/or become hospitalized as a result of the infection. According to Hawaii's vaccine passport requirements, the vaccinated do NOT have to show proof of a recent Covid test even though they can be contagious. There are 81,000 residents in Hawaii who have survived a Covid infection and now have, according to the latest science, superior immunity to that gotten from a vaccine. 81,000 people in Hawaii have been ignored by the mandate and, despite their immunity, must show proof of a recent Covid test. Natural immunity does not exist in Hawaii? So what's the agenda?
No one at Hawaii Ocean News is anti-vaccine. We feel that an individual's decision to get the vaccine is based on his or her own risk-vs-reward assessment.)
Are Hawaii's politicians deliberately ignoring the science to further their own agenda?
In an almost surreal decision that ignores current scientific evidence, the City and County of Honolulu and the state of Hawaii endorsed a vaccine passport mandate that excludes the natural immunity had by 81,000+ of its own residents and completely ignores the fact that people who have been fully vaccinated can also be carriers of a covid-19 infection.
All of the science surrounding who can spread covid-19 in our community, and the superiority of natural immunity now had by 81,000+ people in our community, has been ignored by the city and state as politicians continue to refuse to disclose the scientific basis of their plan. Despite the significant science to the contrary, the current mandate does not recognize natural immunity and excludes all of Hawaii's tens of thousands of people who have it, and further assumes that those who are fully vaccinated cannot be carriers of the disease, a dangerously incorrect assumption. Little in the mandate is supported by recent scientific studies.
As a result of the new vaccine passport, businesses have been losing still more money — some have been shut down — and it's now extremely difficult for many people to tend to critical business in City and State offices. And all of this for the sake of a show . . . for the sake of an illusion fabricated by our politicians here in Hawaii.
Scientists, months ago, began predicting a decline in Covid-19 infections . . . the timing was right for the perfect political ploy
For at least the last three months scientists have been predicting that the number of Delta-variant infections would likely decrease in the coming months because of the combination of increasing numbers of natural immune and vaccine immune individuals within the community, creating close to what might be considered a herd immunity.
Our politicians here decided to take that knowledge for a little spin and hatched a plan to make themselves look like heroes. Hawaii's vaccine passport (aka SMART Health Card) was designed to create the illusion of tough love over the coming months — perfect timing since infections were going to drop off anyway over the next 90 days . . . and, when they did, our political leaders' legacy would go from pilau to "heroic" in a heartbeat.
Brilliant plan and it looks like it worked perfectly. Like any political deception in Hawaii, politicians count on us being gullible enough to buy it. We're betting that some of you aren't and didn't.
Why is Hawaii's Department of Health refusing to cooperate with epidemiologists?
Unfortunately, as we've said, it was a plan that completely ignored the science. Add to this the refusal of the State's Department of Health to turn over critical infection data to epidemiologists at the University of Hawaii and elsewhere makes one wonder what's going on behind closed doors and out of the sunshine.
Legal precedent for a Statewide class-action lawsuit
There is now some legal precedent for winning a lawsuit that concerns itself with the need to recognize those with natural immunity. There are also numerous lawsuits nationwide that are being filed on behalf of litigants who are being excluded from mandate privileges even though they have natural immunity to the disease. Perhaps it's time for a class action lawsuit here in Hawaii.
The pandemic has created so much confusion in our community and has upended our lives. This is no time for playing politics. It is absolutely imperative that our politicians pay close attention to scientific studies.
What a shame: this website could be a useful forum for addressing legitimate issues in the boating community. Instead it has become a platform for the unlettered arguments of a conspiracy theorist. Ed Underwood, whose leadership I am not a fan of, doesn’t need your help in destroying the credibility of this website when you post this kind of hyperbolic drivel.
Hi Paul . . . thank you for your comment. We generally expect that our readers will read the article first and THEN comment. The decision to publish this series on Covid was not taken lightly. We have two members on staff who have an affiliation with the medical industry and are especially well versed on the subject of medical ethics and public health. Could you point to something specific within our post that might qualify as “unlettered argument”? The volunteers at Hawaii Ocean News, most of whom are fully vaccinated, are committed to telling the truth about Hawaii’s government, regardless of how inconvenient that truth may seem. By the way, we couldn’t agree with you more about Mr. Underwood. After tracking his activity over the past 5 years there is reason to believe that the only thing standing between him and a jail cell is the lack of a thorough federal investigation.