PRO: School Vaccine Mandate
February 9, 2022
On January 18, 2020, the first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was confirmed. From the onset of the pandemic, people’s everyday lives have become dictated by rules and guidelines in the hopes of limiting the spread. Stay at home orders, mask mandates, and social distancing were introduced to insulate people. Since then, the pandemic has taken its toll: 5,490,000 people worldwide, with 836,000 of those deaths in the U.S.
August 23, 2020, the first Covid vaccine was introduced thanks to the collaborative efforts of the federal government and pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer and BioNTech, who brought this solution to market in record time. However, contrary to expectations, the vaccine has not removed Covid from our lives. Instead, over a year later, only 62.5% of the population is fully vaccinated. Many across the U.S. have proposed, and in some jurisdictions enacted, vaccine mandates. These measures seem to have great potential for success when combined with deterrents to remaining unvaccinated. These deterrents primarily take the form of limitations on socializing, such as restrictions from dining in restaurants and other public venues. While the end goal of the vaccine is the achievement of herd immunity, a more short-term, attainable goal is limiting the spread of Covid by expanding vaccinations. Recently with new measures introduced, such as the expansion of vaccine access to anyone ages five and older, the U.S. has taken big steps towards the safety and protection of its citizens.
Vaccine mandates are a necessary tool in raising vaccination rates across the board and are being utilized in many sectors of life. Mandates have been applied principally by private businesses as a condition for returning to the workplace or maintaining employment. They are also beginning to be applied by schools, institutions, and stores. These legislative steps create pockets of safety within institutions and commercial outlets. And while some insist that these steps trample the rights of Americans, they are no different from basic social etiquette: To be a part of the social fabric of society, one cannot disregard the safety of others. For example, if you have chickenpox, the world has come to understand that you should not expose the public to this virulent disease by walking around carelessly. Common decency and human rationality tell us to stay home. Vaccine mandates merely put this understood social contract into writing. Those who have chosen to get vaccinated enhance our ability to create a mutually secure environment, which is the first step to regaining some semblance of normality.
Some cite the increase in “breakthrough cases,” dubbed as such because they break through the immunity promised by the vaccines, as proof of the vaccine’s inefficacy. However, any such arguments ignore the numerous, proven benefits of the vaccine — including reduced symptoms, lower transmissibility, shortened periods of infection and limited to no risk of hospitalization. The arguments also ignore the understood limitations of modern methods of immunization. Since vaccinations gain efficacy when a larger percentage of the population becomes vaccinated, people should get vaccinated.
Vaccine mandates are the only conceivable, just response that can appease both ends of the spectrum. While many may still argue that those who chose not to get vaccinated are being systematically oppressed by this legislation, ultimately, we must understand that polarization and mass contention is contrary to our shared goal as a nation. Vaccine mandates safeguard the rights of every American.
