The Pandemic, Vaccination, and the Crisis of Adventist Identity

Certain elements of right-wing Adventism and the larger evangelical, Christian world, have reacted urgently and even defiantly to a relatively benign federal government Covid rule that encouraged vaccination, but allowed for masking and testing for those that object.  But this same group has had very little to say about the deaths of about 850,000 of our fellow citizens in the United States, and many more millions around the world. Why the disparity of concern? Why has the loss of probably a few hundred jobs of vaccine-resistant Adventists (mostly in the health care field, where keeping vulnerable patients safe is an ethical priority), been viewed as such a greater tragedy than the loss of so much life?