Australia didn't slowly turn into a totalitarian nation.  It became one overnight, thanks to the people's willingness to accept their governments' hysterical reaction to COVID.  We've all watched in horror as a once free country now confines people to their homes, forces injections on their children, turns unmasked people into "most wanted" outlaws, shoots dogs, and prepares to track people's every movement with apps backed by police power.  The latest craziness in Victoria is to deny health care to people who resist getting the vaccination.

As a preliminary point to any discussion about vaccine mandates, it's incumbent upon me to note that Israel, the most heavily vaccinated country in the world, is being overwhelmed by the delta variant and has the highest infection rate in the world.  Last week, the country said people needed a third shot.  This week, it's saying that people must take a fourth shot and, indeed, must be perpetually vaccinated to survive COVID mutations.

It's easy to liken the vaccination to a flu shot, but it's actually worse than a flu shot.  The annual flu shot gives people some immunity against the annual flu, which is a slightly different virus every time.  Getting a flu shot in one year does not have any effect on your resistance or vulnerability to the flu in subsequent years.  However, it seems that the COVID vaccines increase people's vulnerabilities to future COVID variants.  Thanks to the vaccine, they're on an endless treadmill of booster shots, all of which come with an unusually high number of severe side-effects.  (The AP challenges the claim that COVID shots actually make people more vulnerable to variants, but it's worth noting that the research results the AP cites don't recognize the facts on the ground in Israel.)

Suffice it to say that the vaccine remains a contentious matter, with many people legitimately fearing that not only won't it prevent COVID, but it may worsen their vulnerability.

In Australia, though, the various state governments are insisting that people must be vaccinated, masked, and locked in their homes or workplaces.  And now Daniel Andrews, the Australian Labor Party premier of Victoria, has announced that only vaccinated Australians can receive health care.  Not just health care if they're sick with COVID, but any health care.  (Hat tip: The Gateway Pundit.)

We are moving from a health system where we have everyone locked down we are going to move to a situation where to protect the health care system we are going to lock out people who are not vaccinated and can be. If you're making the choice not to get vaccinated then you're making the wrong choice[.] ... It's going to be a vaccinated economy. And you get to participate in that.

The reason Andrews can make (and mean) this threat is that Australia has socialized medicine, AKA government-controlled medicine.  It's apparently very poor-quality medical care (as is the case wherever socialized medicine exists), but it's "free" as long as you ignore that you already prepaid for it with your taxes.

What the government giveth, the government can taketh away.  Cancer?  Tough luck if you're not vaccinated, even if your cancer makes the vaccination a deadly risk.  Broken bone?  Set it yourself.  You're not going anywhere near a government-run hospital.  Pretty soon, there are going to be medical speakeasies in Australian cities, where people have to know the password to get into a tightly guarded illegal health care clinic.

In America, a handful of doctors have also refused to treat unvaccinated patients.  The latest example is Dr. Linda Marraccini, who made the news because of her announcement that, as of September 15, anyone who is not vaccinated is barred from coming into her office.  She claims that she's doing so to protect immunocompromised patients.  However, as CDC director Rochelle Walensky conceded in July, vaccinated people not only get the delta variant, but spread it, too.

Thankfully, because America does not have entirely government-controlled medicine, Dr. Marraccini's patients can find other doctors who will treat them, not just for COVID, but also for their other ailments and injuries.  The free market still works, at least up to a point.

There are so many stories about the various vaccines' safety and efficacy that it can easily make your head spin.  What's important to remember, though, is that nothing should ever justify accepting a government's deep dive into totalitarianism, all with the promise to keep you "safe."  No government can do that, and any government claiming to do so is trying to acquire absolute power by first inducing panic and then selling itself as your sole protector.

Image: Vaccine.  Pixabay license.