With almost 50,000 signatures the petition to let Novak Djokovic play in this year’s US Open is gaining steam, with American tennis legend John McEnroe voicing his support:
“US Government and USTA must work together to allow him to play. If unvaccinated American players can play, Djokovic as one of the legends of the game must be allowed to play. MAKE IT HAPPEN, USTA!”
The former US Open champion, who played in last year’s US Open unvaccinated, is unable to play in the 2022 U.S. Open, because of a Biden administration rule that now bans unvaccinated foreigners without permanent residency from entering the US. Unvaccinated U.S. citizens and unvaccinated foreigners with permanent residency are welcomed.
In fact, with the removal of covid-19 testing requirements to enter the U.S. citizens and resident foreigners with residency who are covid-19 positive, and infectious, can travel to the U.S. to infect everyone. Unvaccinated foreigners with a valid U.S. travel VISA issued by the U.S. state department are banned even if they test negative for covid-19. This is “science” at work.
But wait a minute you may ask. If one tests positive for covid-19, like Anthony Fauci and Joe Biden were this month, aren’t they a health threat to others whether they are vaccinated or not? If one tests negative for covid-19, like Novak Djokovic, aren’t they a health threat to no one, whether they are vaccinated or not? Therefore, to stop the spread of the virus, shouldn’t we be quarantining those who test positive, and letting those who test negative move around freely?
That would be the logical view based on the facts, except, the American covid-19 policy is not determined by a logical analysis of the facts, but by a bureaucratic whim. Welcome to Novak Djokovic in Biden’s Vax Mandate land.
What prevents the spread of covid-19 is not one’s vaccination status, but not having the virus. Such status is not established by determining if one is vaccinated for covid-19, but can only be determined by testing for the virus.
If unvaccinated American citizens and permanent residents may enter and leave the country, why not foreigners with legally U.S.-issued travel VISAs, like Djokovic? If unvaccinated players, like American Tennys Sandgren, can play in the US Open, why not Djokovic? Does the “science” change for those who do not have an American passport or green card? President Biden and his administration think so. Much of the false information surrounding the covid-19 vaccine is the result of statements by President Biden, the CDC director, and their parrots in the press who stated that the covid-19 vaccinations stop the spread of covid-19. Covid-19 vaccines presently do not prevent one from getting infected or spreading covid-19 as the recent examples of covid-19 positive President Biden and Anthony Fauci, both of whom have been heavily vaccinated and boosted indicate.
Even more hypocritical is the Biden administration’s present immigration policy that exempts foreigners who enter illegally south of the U.S. border, with no VISA. Where does “the science,” say that an unvaccinated foreigner who enters illegally is not a health threat, but the same foreigner who attempts to enter legally is?
America is a country founded on the idea of the individual’s inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Inalienable means that such rights do not come from the government, but are inherent in the individual by their status as a human being. One does not gain rights by being a U.S. citizen/permanent resident; one does not lose rights by being a non-resident foreigner. As I loosely paraphrased American Founding father, Thomas Jefferson, in my previous article, Let Novak Play: “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor” to be vaccinated for covid-19 or not. “It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
Given that Djokovic’s immunization status poses a health threat to no one, his presence on U.S. soil violates the rights of no one. It was the anti-freedom, anti-science Australian federal government which harassed, imprisoned, and ceremoniously deported Djokovic (who had a legal travel VISA issued by the Australian government) from Australia preventing him from winning the title on his favorite surface on the hard courts of Melbourne; it was the relatively more freedom-loving, more pro-science British government that allowed Djokovic to enter the UK and win his 7th Wimbledon crown.
Whose example will the Biden administration continue to follow: “vaccine apartheid” fascism or “my body, my choice” freedom? “My body, my choice” doesn’t only apply to women when pregnant (as in the case of abortion), but applies to all individuals, in all matters, including the choice to be vaccinated or not.
Novak Djokovic’s example shows that an unvaccinated individual can be a model of health and sports excellence, and survive a covid-19 infection thus gaining natural immunity, all without being vaccinated for covid-19. Such an example is something no freedom-hating government official can tolerate. Novak Djokovic symbolizes the countless number of individuals whose rights are violated because of unscientific and anti-freedom vaccine mandates. Djokovic, who has played the villain in the past, is not the villain in this story, he is the hero.
Djokovic has been approved by the U.S. Department of State, to enter the country; he has been approved by the ATP Tour, the United States Tennis Association which runs the US Open, and tennis governing bodies to play in the 2022 U.S. Open. What is stopping Djokovic is an anti-science CDC, unjustly applied vaccine mandate enforced by the Biden administration.
The Biden administration should not merely make an exemption specifically for Djokovic (which they can under a “national interest” exemption) but should look to repeal the vaccine mandate requirement for all foreigners entirely.
Let Novak Djokovic play tennis in the 2022 U.S. Open: the science supports it, and justice demands it.
For further reading:
Let Novak Play
Banning uninfected foreigners, like Novak Djokovic, from the US because they are unvaccinated is anti-science as vaccination does not stop the spread of covid-19, and anti-American as it violates the principles of individual freedom & choice that America was founded upon.
