Kudos Scott. I'm in the same boat. I usually put five to ten on in winter and lose it again come summer. It's been more like 20 this year. It gets exponentially more difficult to lose once I let myself go too far. Joints hurt a lot more when jogging for example. Spring usually brings more activity and better eating, but I have to make a more concerted effort to lose the gut this year.
Yeah, I'm in the same camp. Haven't had a sniffle in sixteen years, so I assume I have a solid immune system. But I had virtually no reaction to the vaccine other than a two hour period of brain-fog, so not sure how to interpret that.
Obesity is almost certainly a significant part of the reason we've been hit so hard as a country. I'm not sure shaming the obese is effective, but not trying to spin it as healthy (as some media are wont to do) seems reasonable to me.