At age 61, Daniel J. Miller of Parks, Arizona, says there’s no way he’s ever going to take the COVID-19 shot—even if the government comes knocking at his door.
It isn’t just a matter of his religious beliefs and faith in his own natural immune system that emboldens him, it’s a matter of personal choice and medical privacy, Miller says.
So when the Biden administration announced earlier this week that it’s considering sending people door to door to persuade the unvaccinated, Miller’s reaction was, “He’s got to be out of his mind.”
“[President Joe Biden] is way out of bounds,” Miller said. “There’s no reason for him to say take the shot just because he thinks you should. It’s your body, not his.”
Earlier this week, Biden lobbied for higher numbers of Americans to get vaccinated even if it means going “community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, and oft-times door to door, literally knocking on doors.”
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich was quick to respond. In a July 6 letter to the Biden administration, Brnovich said he was “greatly alarmed” by remarks indicating the possible use of medical records to obtain contact information on Americans who haven’t been vaccinated.
“If this is the case, this is a severe breach of privacy, and I will not tolerate such intrusions within Arizona,” Brnovich wrote.
Arizona state Sen. Kelly Townsend, a Republican, advised Arizona residents to put up “no trespassing” signs to ward off government compliance checkers.
“I have spoken to local law enforcement, and if you don’t want the Federal government on your property asking about vaccines, they advise you to post a no trespassing sign in a visible location. This is a prerequisite to [being] able to charge someone for being there against your will,” Townsend wrote on Twitter on July 7.
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward suggested a more personal touch with signs for vaccine compliance checkers to stay away.
“Who thinks we will see a surge in ‘No Trespassing’ signs?“ Ward wrote in a Twitter post. ”And could/should they be individualized to specifically prohibit people from harassing you about vaccinations? And why doesn’t #HIPAA &/or the #4A already prevent this [government] harassment? Isn’t our health info private?”
At present, approximately 157.9 million Americans, or 47.9 percent of the total population, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That percentage is well below Biden’s July 4 national goal of 70 percent.
In Arizona, 43.6 percent have been fully vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, with nearly 5 million vaccine doses having been administered.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Arizona has surpassed 18,000 residents, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The Delta variant of the virus now makes up more than half of all COVID-19 cases in the United States. As of June 23, the nation surpassed 600,000 total deaths from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC noted that it’s closely monitoring what it calls “variants of concern,” such as the Delta variant.
“These variants have mutations in the virus genome that alter the characteristics or cause the virus to act differently in ways that are significant to public health,” and may cause more severe disease, spread more easily between humans, require different treatments, or change the effectiveness of current vaccines.
As state and federal health officials continue to push for more people to get vaccinated, “vaccine hesitancy” has stymied those efforts.
Arizona state Rep. John Fillmore, a Republican, described any attempts by the government to harass people to get vaccinated as “ludicrous.”
“It’s scary—and it’s a harbinger of things to come from this administration,” said Fillmore, who hasn’t been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“If someone comes to my door asking if I’ve been vaccinated, I’m going to shut the door on them,” Fillmore said. “It’s a violation of privacy. Are they going to mark us? Put a big white star out in front [of our homes]? Come back in the middle of the night and take us away? What it does to me is it instills fear that down the road they’re going to mandate something.”
Miller, like Fillmore, also fears government overreach and more coercive measures to force vaccine acceptance.
“Way more forceful measures,” Miller said. “They’re not going to give me the shot.”
Louann Crandall, 57, of Phoenix, said she refuses to take the shot based on her personal religious beliefs.
“I’d tell them to get out of here. They’re invading my privacy. I’m not getting [the shot],“ Crandall said. ”I didn’t get a shot when I had the Hong Kong flu. My son and his fiancée got [the COVID-19 vaccine] and they got really sick. You’re going to have to tie me down and give it to me. I’m not going to take it voluntarily.”
