"Pretty Please" Isn't Working. If the Carrot Fails, You Might Have to Try the Stick.

 

If we're to have any hope of achieving herd immunity over Covid-19, we might have to resort to a little muscle. Max Boot writes that "pretty please" isn't working.


President Biden, joined by every public health authority in the land, has been begging Americans to get vaccinated. The “pretty, please” approach isn’t working. According to The Post’s covid-19 tracker, in the past week, daily reported covid-19 cases rose 66 percent, covid-related hospitalizations rose 28 percent, and daily reported covid-19 deaths rose 20 percent. With the delta variant spreading across the country, every single state has seen an increase in cases over the past seven days.

This is a preventable tragedy. Over 99 percent of covid-19 deaths in June were among the unvaccinated. Yet even as evidence grows that vaccines are safe and effective, resistance to them is also growing.

...the biggest obstacle to vaccination is now Republicans who are being fed a steady diet of anti-vaxxer propaganda by Fox “News” Channel, Facebook and other social media, and reckless demagogues such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

The same Post-ABC News poll found that 86 percent of Democrats had gotten at least one vaccine shot compared with only 45 percent of Republicans. Right-wingers are literally dying to own the libs.

This is madness. Stop making reasonable appeals to those who will not listen to reason. (According to an Economist/YouGov poll, a majority of those who refuse to get vaccinated say vaccines are being used by the government to implant microchips.) It’s a waste of time. Start mandating that anyone who wants to travel on an airplane, train or bus, attend a concert or movie, eat at a restaurant, shop at a store, work in an office or visit any other indoor space show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test.

European countries also favored a voluntary approach to vaccinations initially, but now they are moving in the direction of mandates. French President Emmanuel Macron just mandated compulsory vaccinations for all health-care workers by Sept. 15 and declared that, starting Aug. 1, anyone who wants to enter cafes, restaurants, theaters, long-distance trains or shopping malls must have proof of vaccination or a negative test. This announcement prompted more than 3 million people to register for shots in just five days. Germany, Italy and Spain have already raced ahead of the United States in the percentage of the population that has been partially or fully vaccinated, and France will soon overtake us too.

...Granted, there are limits to the United States’ ability to mandate vaccines because many red-state governors are unlikely to go along. But even Republicans want to fly on airplanes and visit blue states such as California, Hawaii, Nevada and New York. Vaccine mandates will prove controversial, to put it mildly, but, like seat belt laws, drunken driving laws and motorcycle helmet laws, they will save lives. We should not grant an unreasonable minority the power to endanger public health.

Meanwhile, the Dow dropped 700 points today on fears that the growth of coronavirus hot spots in America may derail its economic recovery.

The delta variant is now the dominant strain worldwide and surging rapidly, even in countries with high vaccination rates. New coronavirus infections in the United States rose nearly 70 percent in a single week, officials reported Friday, and nearly every state has reported an increase in cases.


Comments

  1. Owen GrayJuly 20, 2021 at 8:15 AM

    Lots of things have costs associated with them. If you want to travel, you must be vaccinated. Period.

    ReplyDelete

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