In my opinion, the birth control analogy misses the mark. It isn't like that, nor is it like seat belts or helmets. There is one main reason you should get vaccinated: To reduce the spread of the disease. The fact that it helps you is just a bonus. I realize this is a very hard thing for people to wrap their head around -- especially in a narcissistic, individualistic country like America. But sometimes you do things for the good of everyone else. It is why we have laws against drunk driving. Yeah, sure, it helps protect the drunken driver too, but that's not why the law exists, or why you'll spend the night in jail if you are caught. It is to protect everyone else. Just like the vaccine.

Anyway, great cartoon otherwise. It just bothers me that people don't get that message, and we keep focusing on the benefit to the individual getting vaccinated, which is irrelevant.

@1 FTW

@1, I will now argue that a fetus is a disease

Now show us the Lynda Barry version.

Comics are supposed to be for entertainment, not a PSA. Get a life.

give that Gal
a Pulitzer.

& TWO
weeks off.

@6
WHY
are u
Here?

My partner has relatives in Japan he's trying to convince to get the vaccine. That county has put out some shitty, harmful meds in the past thus the reluctance. It is a worldwide effort and the US is not the only county with hesitant citizens.

Meredith Li-Vollmer, you're fantastic! I loved the birth control metaphor, even if others didn't immediately get it.

@1 Ross and @3 schmacky, you're both cis male, right? What if you were cis female and sexually active? Besides having to fight off possible STDs, you might want to safeguard against a life-changing, body-altering unwanted pregnancy from unprotected sexual intercourse. Do you see where Meredith is getting at now? Without vaccines, masking, and other barrier forms of prevention like birth control, life for the majority of us would really suck.

@5a Agent Smith2: Lynda Barry. Another great cartoonist. I love her Real Comeeks.

@6: Comments are usually meant to be relevant. Get a clue.

@8 kristofarian: Agreed and seconded. Meredith Li-Vollmer for the 2021 Pulitzer!

@9 kristofarian: I keep wondering about that about Elmer, too.
Methinks it's why he's such an ultra maroon--he often has no point.

What do I look like, AgentSmith 5 point 1 ?

Probably more like AgentSmith Millennium Edition.

AgentSmith Vista?

@13 & @14 AgentSmith2: There are two @5s in this comment thread. I identified you personally, only adding an "a" to differentiate between your comment and the other @5 tomato pie.

@15
"It's not a bug, it's a 'feature' ".
- Paul Allen and Bill Gates

10: I assume you meant COUNTRY. Japan, as far as I know is not a COUNTY.

7: Before you criticize someone else, it might be helpful for you to get your facts correct. It's "Cathy", with a C.

Dumbass.