“Every idol, however exalted, turns out, in the long run, to be a Moloch, hungry for human sacrifice.”

Aldous Huxley

Back in March, I wrote an article comparing the loss of life from COVID with the loss of life from our reaction to COVID. That article stemmed from a Wisconsin doctor’s miscarriage following receipt of the COVID vaccine. What struck me is that if the vaccine did indeed cause the miscarriage (a big “if”), then this woman essentially sacrificed the entire life of her unborn child in exchange for some vague sense of protecting vulnerable people. Never mind that these vulnerable people could choose to be vaccinated and therefore protect themselves.

The desire to protect others is surely noble, and that nobility makes it somewhat difficult for me to pass judgment. Except…we’re talking about protecting older and weaker people by potentially sacrificing children. That’s something that I just cannot understand.

So now enter Jacob Clynick, a 13-year-old boy from Saginaw, Michigan. Jacob died from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) three days after receiving the 2nd dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. His aunt took to twitter to tell the story, and of course her messages immediately went viral.

A quick glance through the @tburages account makes very clear that she is not exactly the type of person who would make this story up to try to hurt the vaccine effort. In fact, she replies to multiple people that she would still vaccinate her 14-year-old son if she hadn’t already (!). So what we’re looking at here is a genuinely heartbroken aunt who wants to make sense of her family’s tragedy.

While I certainly can’t make sense of the incredibly bad luck that befell Jacob, I can add some background to the situation for you. The CDC has been fully aware of the association between the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) and myocarditis since at least May. It fully knows that the issue is specific to young people, mostly young males. It is so apathetic to the issue that it happily postponed a Friday, June 18 emergency meeting because of the new Juneteenth holiday (which was on Saturday, June 19 🤔 ).

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization adopted new guidance that “Children should not be vaccinated for the moment.” This is particularly compelling when considering the Pfizer reports of 100% efficacy in children. I mean, if it’s 100% effective, why not just give it to them?

Partisan hacks will try to tell you that the WHO is responding to worldwide vaccine equity or some other nonsense, but really the fact is that a 100% efficacy doesn’t do much for you when the control group is already at extremely low risk. As the WHO’s guidance says, “There is not yet enough evidence on the use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to make recommendations for children to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults.“

I (and the CDC, etc.) have said it before: children are at extremely low risk from COVID illness. So vaccinating kids doesn’t really net much protection for kids. They’re already at de minimis risk.

“But what about protecting the adults?” There is vigorous debate about how much children contribute to community transmission, but even if we assumed that every child is a super-spreader (which they aren’t), every adult is still able to be vaccinated right now if they so choose. So vaccinating kids doesn’t really net much protection for adults. Vaccinating adults does that.

So what exactly are we vaccinating kids for? Who are we protecting? What is the purpose?

Make no mistake about it: a child was always going to die from the COVID vaccine. That’s just how medicine works. Bodies are weird; sometimes they respond unexpectedly. Jacob Clynick may have hit odds comparable to winning the lotto, but still, someone eventually has to win the lotto. We all knew this was inevitable, to some degree.

I am not going to argue for how big or how small the myocarditis factor is. The data is currently unclear, and I think the truth will come out in good time. I’m just here to argue the philosophical question: was Jacob’s death moral? Did we do a good thing as a society? How many COVID deaths do we have to avoid to make Jacob’s death a worthwhile sacrifice?

A Moral Dilemma

Let me give you a hypothetical: if Jacob’s death was the only death necessary to ensure that no human would ever die of COVID again, would we, society, be within our moral rights to sentence him to that death? If you answered yes, by what moral authority do you believe society has such rights to his life?

“Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please or appease a deity, supernatural beings, or sacred social order, tribal, group or national loyalties in order to achieve a desired result.”

Wikipedia definition of child sacrifice

The key term here is “…in order to achieve a desired result.” Prior to late antiquity, the desired result of child sacrifice was to obtain some sort of favor from the gods. What would the desired result of a child sacrifice be today? Perhaps the elimination of some amount of COVID?

When I consider the moral dilemma of whether or not Jacob’s death can be justified, I am struck by how similar the Canaanites of old are to modern-day COVID fanatics.

  • In both cases, the sacrifice is intentionally understood to be insignificant in the bigger picture. Not many children must be sacrificed to Moloch. Not many children will die from the COVID vaccine.
  • In both cases, the expected sacrificial payoff is unrealistic. If we sacrifice children then the gods will reward us. If we vaccinate children then COVID will be conquered.
  • In both cases, there is no plausible, heuristic method by which the sacrifice can achieve the desired outcome. Sacrificing a baby to Moloch achieves reward…how? Vaccinating children protects vaccinated adults…how?
  • In both cases, nobody involved stops to consider the human rights of the “sacrificial lamb“.

Are you sure of your moral assessment that sacrifices to Moloch are completely dissimilar to pediatric COVID vaccination?

Meet the New God, Same as the Old God

Us humans have come a long way since the days of Leviticus. We’ve spread to every corner of the globe, explored the depths of the seas, and even ventured into space. So one would think we are far removed from the superstitions that plagued us millennia ago. And yet my eyes tell me otherwise. I think all we’ve done is modernize our religion: instead of rudimentary belief in supernatural transcendence, we now have “sophisticated” belief in The Science™.

This belief system leads scores of Americans to continue demanding COVID elimination, despite there being no one left to protect who hasn’t already chosen to remain unprotected. Isn’t this the most bizarre thing you’ve ever seen? What are these people advocating for? What is their end-game?

In the words of George Santayana, fanaticism is “redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim“. What are the COVID fanatics aiming for? Shouldn’t this whole thing have been over once every adult could be vaccinated? Why did they redouble their efforts by pushing vaccines for children?

“Child sacrifice is thought to be an extreme extension of the idea that,

the more important the object of sacrifice, the more devout the person giving it up is.“

Wikipedia definition of child sacrifice

In my view, COVID fanatics are not particularly concerned with either the rational justification or the moral implication of their actions. Instead, they are compulsively fixated on the degree to which they feel devoted to their cause. What could possibly represent greater devotion to COVID than including children, who you know to be at no risk, in the charade? Keep them home from school, put masks on them, get them vaccinated, etc. — All in the name of myopic monomania.

As of right now, Jacob Clynick is the only child sacrifice to the god of COVID vaccination that I am aware of. God willing, there won’t be too many more. But still, a single child’s life in exchange for any level of COVID mitigation is a moral deficiency. A single child’s life in exchange for the feeling of devotion is full-blown moral collapse.

Fortunately for society, children really are resilient. I remain convinced that children will eventually become the most resistant to COVID hysteria, despite bearing the heaviest burden from it. Their resiliency does not, however, absolve us of our moral failing to protect their innocence. Our job as adults should always be to protect their youth and well-being, allowing them to grow into their fullest potential possible. We can’t do that while burdening them with the immoral idea that they are responsible for protecting anybody. If Grandma wants to be protected, then she can get the vaccine. If Grandma doesn’t want the vaccine, for whatever reason, then the risk is her choice.

The bottom line is that encouraging children to assume responsibility for the well-being of adults is abject moral failure. Children are supposed to do one thing and one thing only: grow. And we are supposed to support them in that effort. Let’s do that, and leave society’s problems to bear down on grown adult shoulders.

“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other wings.”

Hodding Carter