Columns

On July 29, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that federal workers and contractors will be required to attest they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else face mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing. and other new rules. President Biden also said he is "asking the Defense Department to look into how and when they will add COVID-19 to the list of vaccinations our armed forces must get."

At this point in time, we don’t have the time to coax vaccine holdouts to get vaccinated. It might have been feasible back when the vaccines were first approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). By now the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness have been proven again and again over time, yet resistance remains. And we continue to hear that persistent education about the vaccines’ importance will eventually overcome resistance. It hasn't. If the unvaccinated aren’t convinced by now about the lifesaving benefits of vaccination, they just haven’t been listening or are listening to the wrong sources. 

Now is the time for vaccination mandates at the federal, state, and local levels. Already California and New York will require all state employees and on-site public and private health care workers to be vaccinated or face at least weekly testing. San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties in California and New York City have a similar requirement for their employees.  

In addition, employers should mandate their employees get vaccinated or get frequent tests and wear masks at their workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated that employers can now order their employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination shot, provided that they comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), religious exceptions, and other laws. And the Justice Department said that federal law does not prohibit public and private employers from requiring vaccinations, even if it has been approved only for emergency use by the FDA. On June 12, 2021, a federal District Court in Texas upheld a hospital’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for employees. Here are some of the companies that have already announced Covid-19 vaccine requirements for at least some of their employees: Google, Facebook, Netflix, Morgan Stanley, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Washington Post, Lyft, Uber, and Twitter. 

As of July 29, 2021, institutions of higher learning in thirty-five states and the District of Columbia require vaccinations in some form for the start of the 2021-22 academic year. Unfortunately, at least seven states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Montana, Oklahoma and Utah -- have already banned such vaccination mandates in public schools, while 34 more have introduced bills that would limit requiring someone to demonstrate their vaccination status. 

I applaud these vaccination mandates. Without such mandates, I fear the pandemic will continue on and on as more virulent variants come on the scene. At some point, public health and safety must trump individual freedom of choice.