It's Time To Make Vaccines Mandatory

[Celerity]

Here's the argument we need to make to those refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/its-time-to-make-vaccines-mandatory



Last week, a maintenance worker came to my apartment to take a look at our HVAC. This was not unusual since my building is old and things break down somewhat regularly. What was unusual was that he wasn’t wearing a mask. My eyebrow went up, Spock-fashion. I asked him if he was vaccinated. He responded that he didn’t have to tell me that, which meant “No”. Since I was standing in the doorway and his chances of getting past me were somewhere between zero and “watch the pretty snowball melt in the fiery pits of Hell”, I just stared at him for a few seconds, waiting. “I can get a mask from my car. Would you like me to do that?” I was wearing my mask so he could not see my deep frown of disapproval but presumably my narrowed eyes and continued silence were enough. “I’ll go get a mask.” Six weeks ago, I would not have done that. But that was before Delta. Now? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Delta Is Just Getting Started

Everyone in my family has both shots so I am not particularly concerned about one of us casually picking up Covid from a random passer-by on the streets. But having an unmasked and unvaccinated person in the apartment for twenty to thirty minutes, huffing and puffing? Yeah, we are not doing that. Even before Delta that would not have been a great idea. With the far more contagious variant that can also get past vaccination immunity? No thank you. This new reality is, quite literally, what I was writing about back at the beginning of May. I had heard anecdotal evidence that Delta (still called the Indian Variant at the time) was extremely infectious compared to previous variants. Specifically, I was told that it was hitting younger people much harder than previous versions of Covid had. This, in part, is why I had my 11-year-old daughter vaccinated 6 months before she was actually eligible. The difference between 11 and a half and 12 is non-existent but the difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated is everything. To be clear, there is no evidence that children, specifically, are more susceptible to Delta. But because this variant is so much more contagious and virulent, it is infecting and harming far more children than previous strains of the virus. Now that children (and teens and early 20s) are no longer kind of, sort of, protected, the number of infections is rapidly rising as is the number of severe cases.

NBC News reports:



Once schools are reopened, two things are going to happen. First, a very large number of children, tens, if not hundreds, of thousands, are going to get sick in very short order. Second, there will be a new wave of Covid panic. The first is entirely predictable. Before Covid really got going last year the nation wisely yanked the kids out of school. It was a tough year but it kept most kids safe. At the same time, the original Covid and its initial variants were not virulent enough to present a serious threat to kids. The result? We let ourselves believe that Covid was only a danger to the elderly and minorities, i.e. people America does not care about. Now we are going to let about 56 million kids go back to school, at least 30 million of them unvaccinated, right when a variant that is a threat has become the dominant strain in the United States. In high schools where most of the kids are vaccinated, there may be some breakthrough infections. Where Republican parents have chosen to put their teens in harm’s way? It will run rampant. In middle schools, 6th grade has a lot of kids who are still under 12 and therefore can’t get the shot (unless, of course, their parents do what we did and just lie about their child’s age). Delta will spread if the larger community is not well-vaccinated. And possibly even if it is.

Elementary school is a disaster waiting to happen. At least middle and high schoolers can make an attempt at social distancing, washing their hands, and wearing masks. It will be impossible to do this with Pre-K through first grade. Even second and third grade is pushing it. If you are rolling your eyes at this or plan on blaming teachers, you have clearly never tried to keep a single 5-year-old clean, much less a roomful of them. Once the headlines start rolling in, “100,000 Children Infected With Delta In 4 Weeks!” (and that is wildly optimistic), that’s when the second wave of panic will set in. People, naturally, get really freaked out when their kids are in danger. Some are already anticipating this. There are a lot of solid theories about why the Republican Party and parts of Fox News are suddenly discovering their belief in science and vaccines but I do not think it’s that much of a mystery. Previously, Covid was killing a lot more Black, Latino, and Native Americans than White people. And it was hardly touching kids at all. As far as Republicans were concerned, this was awesome.

snip

[Orrex]

1. A friend has been sharing an opinion piece by some family practitioner

He's apparently a pediatric HIV specialist, for which he has my endless respect and admiration, but he also stated outright that vaccinated people should abandon their masks and go back to living, for which I want him to go fuck himself so hard that he turns inside out twice.

He further asserts that young children, unable to be vaccinated, "are barely affected by it." I lack the chops to engage with him directly, of course, but he's no epidemiologist, and much of what he claims simply doesn't pass the smell test.

Any healthcare professional making such an irresponsible and dangerous declaration should be stripped of their licenses at least until the pandemic is over.

[Celerity]

3. what is his name? I will vet him hard, others can too

[Orrex]

4. I can find out. I'll PM you.

[Celerity]

5. thanks!

[Jim G.]

8. Aren't You Up Early?

[Jim G.]

10. You Spelled "Disinformation" Wrong

But yeah, we do keep an eye out.

[Celerity]

11. Lol, did I miss a secret admirer? The post is poofed.

[Jim G.]

12. One Of Our Longest Trolling Anti-Vax, Anti-Mask Wearing RWNJ's

It's a little like Whack-A-Mole.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Covid Vaccines' Emergency Status Doesn't Bar Mandates: DOJ

Mandates are both legal and necessary. The vaccines' emergency status is not a barrier to mandates

Link to tweet

The Covid-19 vaccines’ status as an emergency product—which has fueled lawsuits against vaccination mandates—doesn’t prohibit employers, universities, or other entities from requiring inoculations, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The language in federal drug approval law cited by legal challengers only says that certain information should be provided to potential vaccine recipients, the department’s Office of Legal Counsel said in a memo seen by Bloomberg Law Monday.

Although the OLC memo isn’t binding authority and thus doesn’t guarantee court approval of a vaccine mandate, it provides a boost to employers and others that either have imposed such a requirement or are considering it.

The memo, dated July 6, became public as concern is growing that unvaccinated Americans are contributing to the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. It signals that the White House is beginning to embrace vaccine mandates, a sharp departure from the Biden administration’s earlier hesitancy on the subject.....

A federal judge threw out the Houston Methodist lawsuit, saying the language on emergency use products applies to powers and obligations of the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, not a private employer. The federal judge who rejected an initial bid to block Indiana University’s mandate said the language directs HHS to establish conditions to allow for informed consent.

In the OLC memo, Justice Department lawyers said the plain language of the section on emergency use authorization, known as EUA, concerns only the provision of information to vaccine recipients. The FDA agrees that the section places no restrictions on the ability to require an EUA product, the memo said.

[roamer65]

6. I predict mass graves by 31 December 2021.

[pstokely]

13. could more public colleges in red states make them mandatory?

many college administrators lack the balls to stand up to repuke legislatures, could they grew some now?

[MichMan]

14. Need to shut down schools for the entire year again

[Celerity]

16. That will never happen. nt

[Liberal In Texas]

15. Sure wish they'd get approval of a vaccine for kids. I worry about my grandkids.

And I'm going back to no workers/maintenance people in my house without masks. I was getting kind of slack about it but I think it's time to tighten back up again. I'm also replacing my aging N95 mask collection as the straps are starting to break on many of them.

[frogmarch]

17. Yes!

I heard on CNN this morning that Covid cases in Nebraska - and that's just one state - are up by 2700% in the past two weeks! Twenty-seven HUNDRED percent!

Yes, mandate vaccines NOW!