It’s fashionable (literally) to be obsessed with vaccination status

It’s fashionable (literally) to be obsessed with vaccination status

By: Rachel Marsden

PARIS — Does anyone else get a good chuckle out of the self-righteousness on display by the people who have received the COVID-19 jab and seem to want to make a temporary career out of pro-vaccine activism?

You know who I’m talking about: the people who proudly post photos on social media of their vaccination certificate for the world to see. This phenomenon has apparently become so prevalent that the French government has had to warn these dim bulbs not to display the document’s scannable QR code, which contains private information. Hey, fools, save that for the airline, festival and concert workers who’ll now need to see your health-related data in order for you to access previously routine aspects of daily life.

Then there are the now-cliché selfies of people getting a shot in their arm, often followed by comments about how moved they were by the experience, sometimes to the point of tears.

Enough people have even fetishized the jab experience that Google autofill even suggests “Covid T-shirt” right alongside “Covid T cell response,” suggesting that virtue-signaling COVID-19 immunity is on par with actual immunity.

And there’s no shortage of vaccination T-shirts for those interested.

A Canadian vaccination campaign mounted by a coalition of COVID-19 task forces is selling T-shirts that read “This is our shot” on the front, with a logo featuring half of a red Canadian maple leaf and an upright vaccine needle. The campaign’s website asks that people “Wear your shirt to your vaccination appointment and take a selfie of you getting your vaccine. Post it using the #ThisIsOurShotCA hashtag.”

Vancouver-born actor Ryan Reynolds tweeted a photo of himself in the shirt and wrote: “Finally got my #ThisIsOurShotCA t-shirt.” Reynolds is perhaps best known for playing the Marvel comic character Deadpool, delivering lines such as, “You may be wondering why the red suit? Well, that’s so bad guys can’t see me bleed. This guy’s got the right idea. He wore the brown pants.” No doubt this is the kind of guy you’d want to assist you in making individual health choices that were previously the domain of your personal physician.

New York Magazine has curated a list of COVID-19 vaccine merchandise. Virtue signalers can buy a “Relax, I’m vaxxed” button, an “I got my Covid vaccine” iron-on patch (featuring a giant snot-green virus molecule), a wine or champagne label that reads “Congrats on getting your V-card,” socks decorated with someone’s idea of what antibodies look like, or an $11 T-shirt with all the names of the vaccines administered in the U.S.

Who would actually wear this stuff in public? Can you imagine going on a speed date and finding yourself across from someone in a “Vaccines Cause Adults” T-shirt? Or someone in a top featuring a cat’s face and the message “Don’t Be a Pussy. Get Your Vaccination”?

How about creating an online dating app strictly for people who self-identify as vaccinated? It’s not like the average love-seeker is going to sign up for a matchmaking tool that limits the options to people who define themselves by their vaccination status. But it will help remove people who’ve replaced their personality with a vaccine-related identity from the general dating pool, where they would otherwise annoy the rest of us.

People obsessed with vaccine status are making it easier for governments to tighten the screws on freedom of movement with proposed vaccination certificates, which are going to be required for certain public venues and for international travel. If the vaccine is so great and provides such effective immunity, why do countries need to impose quarantines and PCR testing on travelers who have been jabbed? If you’re a Brit now allowed to visit Portugal because you have your vaccine passport, why do you still have to wear a mask on the beach and risk coming home with tan lines on your face that make it look like you slept in the sun with a book over your mouth?

Governments have peddled the vaccine as a way to end restrictions, but now they’ve moved the goalposts yet again. Even your cattle-branding proof of vaccination isn’t enough to get your freedom back. For now, just scan the pass, drink the Kool-Aid and post the selfies. And hey, nice T-shirt.