Time for Vaccine Mandates

We could be past COVID. We are in the phase of "the preventable pandemic" for adults in this country.  

We are at that point in the U.S. when most people over twelve who want COVID-19 vaccines have gotten theirs. 

We very exhausted and traumatized healthcare workers have tried for months (in our already too-short appointments) to cajole patients who we feel are reasonable or persuadable to get theirs, for the sake of themselves, their families, those too young to be vaccinated (including my kids), and those with suppressed immune systems. All of us who work in primary care work so hard to avoid preventative illnesses and diseases in our patients and feel unheard and despondent when such illnesses develop.  With our relationships as our assets (especially with fear of and disruption by the highly transmissible Delta variant and the potential for more mutants), we have been successful sometimes in convincing some patients to get shots, but not all of the time. Some people who have genuine long-term fears/questions (I see this in many of my pregnant patients), or who are just a bit unmotivated to get to the clinic or pharmacy may still be reachable/convincible with time or first-hand scares or inconvenient repeated quarantines.

However, when repeatedly encouraging ethical behavior and good decision-making for preventing illness in the community, for the sake of your neighbors, to avoid disrupting workplaces, the school year, learning and for preserving normal childhoods, and when data about how the vaccines are safe and effective and the off ramp for this pandemic has not been enough to change obstinate minds, it's time to switch approaches (I do appreciate some of the right-wing TV hosts that have newly, lately, come around as messengers to try to reach their vaccine-skeptic yet “pro-life” viewers. Better late than never. Even though I find your general political views and ideology dangerous and offensive).

I am becoming increasingly angry that we are at a point that we are in this country, and I'm all for vaccine mandates for changing behavior.  If you want to wear a mask forever and live in a hut on your own remote rural property indefinitely without contact with the outside world (or people) and continue to decline a vaccine, I won't contest your choice, even though I think you're making ridiculous life trade-offs.  But I don't want you--or your kids--to be in my kids' schools (we've already had two post-vaccine-availability quarantines for Iver from unvaccinated adults involving their kids), gyms, church, grocery stores, theaters, sports arenas, libraries, or crossing paths with me in the community. When I see you in my office or hospital, asking for my medical help, I will not have a lot of confidence that it's a very productive or therapeutic relationship or that I can help you very much because you clearly don't trust my medical judgment.  No, I will not prescribe you prophylactic Ivermectin in this resource-rich country with vaccines widely available, and if (when) you get COVID, I will mostly likely be screaming in my head, "I TOLD YOU SO!" (even if I have the tact to not say that out loud and will still take care of you because it's still my job and I'm professional. My religion also calls me to treat you kindly even when you do me and others great harm).

Due to the preventable disruptiveness of team quarantines and game schedules, the NFL has increased their vaccine uptake to near 87% (herd immunity!) among its players by mandating inconvenient regular COVID testing and enforcing game/pay forfeiture for those that choose their "freedom to be a COVID victim" (and test positive or cause an outbreak) over being vaccinated. I'm surprised but very pleased at their stance.  

Many colleges and universities are mandating COVID shots for on-campus students this coming school year (I hope local private and public schools will follow suit when vaccines are available for all school-aged kids).

Health care systems across our state and the country (including my alma mater, Mayo Clinic, and even in historically conservative Texas!) are moving towards mandatory vaccinations for employees (our organization with Kelvin as CMO is doing the same). I'm of the firm opinion that if you are a healthcare worker but don't believe or trust in infectious disease scientists and medical experts about something as basic as vaccination to stop a global pandemic, you are employed in the wrong field. No one in the United States will (by law) pin you down to stick a shot in your arm, but it's time for you to find a new career where you won't harm patients and other responsible staff while ignoring basic scientific principles and evidence.

Vaccine passports requiring proof of vaccination for travel or to enter restaurants and other public spaces is an excellent next move to allow the rest of us in the US to go on with "normal" life while preserving the "freedom" of people to choose not to be vaccinated and thus assuming the associated "freedom" to be excluded from such sites (France saw a huge uptick in vaccine requests after implementing a policy like this and I find this highly interesting and motivating). We absolutely should make it difficult/inconvenient for the anti-vaxxers to do normal things they enjoy if it would nudge them towards inoculation. Let's mandate vaccines for NCAA football game attendance and see how that boosts immunization rates in the deep south!

While individual liberty-loving conservatives everywhere will be up in arms about vaccine mandates trampling on their very precious rights, I won't deign to engage in their arguments. I maintain that the freedom for my children (who continue to wear their masks without complaints) to stay safe from getting sick with a preventable contagious illness and all of our freedom to live normal, social lives trumps your freedom to be a selfish superspreader and your right to unnecessarily stress our fragile health care system.   

Because I don't trust many of you, I will still wear my mask for now (although, if you would do the right thing, my youngest son wouldn't have to wear a mask for half of his entire life to date [and counting]) and mask mandates apply when there's not another way to stop disease spread.  It’s clear that we need vaccine mandates to put this pandemic to an end, soon. It's been too long. It’s about d*** time.