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A new piece from Bloomberg News warns that government-mandated COVID vaccines may soon be on the way.
In a recent op-ed titled, “What Happens When Vaccine Incentives Aren’t Enough?“, columnist Clara Ferreira Marques argues that “a degree of compulsion may be necessary” to force individuals to take the experimental mRNA shot.
“It’s uncomfortable to argue for obligatory jabs, even in a pandemic that has devastated families globally,” Marques writes. “Yet if we don’t get to better levels once vaccines are fully and freely available, some degree of compulsion may well be necessary. The benefit is too great, and the risk and sacrifice asked of citizens too small, to ignore.”
Noting that efforts to entice the public to take the vaccine with free doughnuts, beer, burgers and lottery prizes hasn’t worked, Marques suggests government force may be necessary to get people vaccinated.
“Unfortunately, encouragement isn’t likely to get us all the way to herd immunity, or not in enough places. So what happens then?” Marques asks.
“Leaving aside employers, where arguments are different, is it acceptable for a government to consider disincentives, mandating vaccines for activities like eating out or even going to school, as already happens for childhood shots in many places? Vaccines are the greatest gift to public health after clean water. Should we consider an even tougher line?”
“Full compulsion — which implies fines or even prison, as opposed to simply not getting a benefit or public service — isn’t easily embraced,” she continues. “For me, that’s less because of arguments around personal liberty than because of the deep polarization in many societies, including the U.S., that would only worsen with such an approach.”
In the end, Marques says, the threat of government force works, and mandatory vaccines could be pushed on the public in the name of “fairness.”
“Twisting the arms of citizens works; we know this globally from childhood vaccination campaigns,” Marques writes. “But there’s another compelling reason: fairness. Selective mandates for some workplaces, or to access some state services, would disproportionately affect specific groups, often at the lower end of the income scale — as with foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.”
“If there is a burden of inconvenience and risk to carry, we should at least carry it equally,” she adds.
Biden in December told reporters that he would not make COVID-19 vaccine compulsory — but he’s reneged on several promises such as not mandating masks nationwide.
“I don’t think they should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory, but I would do everything in my power just like I don’t think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide,” Biden said.
As of this writing, 128 million Americans – about 40% of the population – have already received two doses of the COVID-19 shot.
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