You Can’t Vaccinate Against Stupid

My employer hires a new guy. He seems like a decent guy, if a little bit spacey. The first time we go on lunch together, along with a few other colleagues, the conversation turns to my upcoming plans to travel outside the USA.

New Guy: “So, are you vaccinated for [health crisis], since they make you get vaccinated these days?

Me: “Yeah, I got vaccinated a few months ago, and I’m going to keep my card with my passport so I’ll have it with me.”

New Guy: “Okay. Personally, I think it’s bulls*** that you have to get vaccinated just to travel these days.”

Me: “That’s always been a thing for different parts of the world. Like, you’ve always needed different vaccines to travel to Africa.”

New Guy: “Yeah, but those are for diseases. [Health crisis] is only a virus, not a disease.”

Me: “Wait, what?”

New Guy: “Yeah, like polio or measles. Those are diseases. [Health crisis] is only a virus, so it’s not like the vaccine does anything to make you safer.”

Me: “All of those are diseases caused by viruses. Nobody is born with polio or measles or [health crisis]; you have to be exposed to the virus first. That’s how vaccines work; they teach your body how to respond to the virus so it doesn’t develop into a more serious disease if you are ever exposed.”

New Guy: “I’ve never heard of that. I’ll have to look into it.”

I’ve learned, in subsequent conversations with the new guy about a whole variety of topics, that that’s his go-to response when he refuses to accept that he’s wrong. Of course, he never “looks into” anything because that might force him to admit that he’s wrong. He still works here, but I and most of our colleagues refuse to talk to him unless it’s strictly about work.