Vaccine Mandates Picking Up Steam Amidst Both Good, Bad COVID News
"We are never going to go back to a pre-pandemic reality," public health expert says
The desire for vaccine mandates and having businesses open only to patrons vaccinated against COVID-19 appears to be picking up steam, as another large-state Democratic governor has begun encouraging the idea.
Meanwhile, recent days have seen developments both positive and negative in the struggle against the virulent illness which has snuffed more than 600,000 American lives.
The idea of vaccine mandates seems to have begun to be increasingly palatable and politically viable as the nation is quickly separating into vaccinated and unvaccinated spheres — particularly as many on the political right stubbornly refuse the jabs only for political reasons.
New York Gov Andrew Cuomo (D) Monday publicly endorsed to idea of businesses hanging a sign saying, “Vaccinated only.”
“Private businesses — bars, restaurants — go to a vaccine-only admission. I believe that it's in your best business interest,” Cuomo said. “You know, if I go to a bar and want to have a drink, and want to talk to the person next to me, I want to know that that person is vaccinated. If I go to a restaurant, and the table right next to me, I want to know they're vaccinated. I believe that it's in your business interest, to run a vaccine-only establishment.”
Cuomo's comments come in the wake of COVID cases once again skyrocketing across the country — this time fueled particularly by Americans refusing to get their shots.
This vaccine hesitancy has caused vaccination rates to slow recently.
However, that trend's been reversing itself in recent days.
“You know, there is a little bit of good news in that our vaccine rates seem to be on the rise. For the last five days the United States has averaged more than 700,000 shots. For the last four days we’re averaging more than 400,000 new people coming in for first-time shots,” said Dr Jonathan Reiner, a professor at The George Washington University Medical Center. “So I think that’s an acknowledgment that maybe some of the messages starting to get down to the grassroots.
“Maybe people are starting to see folks in their community get sick and see hospitals fill. So, whatever the reason for the uptick in vaccinations, it’s a hopeful sign,” he added.
The spread of misinformation — and outright disinformation — especially among those on the political right has been a major cause of vaccine hesitancy. These falsehoods and misinformation have been spread via social media providers like Facebook, as well as such right-wing television as Fox News.
The Biden administration — beginning at the White House — has been taking a much tougher and direct stance on combating such misinformation, however.
A recent poll found an overwhelming 81 percent of vaccinated Americans support the imposition of vaccine mandates — compared to just 30 percent of unvaccinated Americans.
President Biden last year imposed a mandate that federal employees and on-site contractors must be vaccinated.
A growing number number of large employers — from Google to The Washington Post and more — similarly are telling their workers that they must be vaccinated.
The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also supports such mandates.
“As a public health person who wants to see this pandemic end, yes. I think anything we can do to encourage reluctant folks to get vaccinated because they’ll want to be part of these public events, that’s a good thing,” said Dr Francis Collins. “I’m delighted to see employers like Disney and Walmart coming out and asking their staff to be vaccinated. I’m glad to see the president has said all federal employees. I oversee NIH. With 45,000 people [who] need to also get vaccinated or if they’re not, to get regular testing which is inconvenient.”
Vaccines shown effective
Some other good news, so to speak, is that the recent spike in new cases indicates that the vaccines are effective, according to Dr Collins.
“Well, look at the numbers, Jake, of cases have gone up about four fold in the last couple of weeks. We’re pushing up towards 100,000 cases a day now, particularly so in those hot spots where vaccination rates are still quite low, maybe 30 percent,” he said during an on-air interview with CNN host Jake Tapper. “That would be Missouri and Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, and those are areas of deep concern.
“The good news is that people are getting the message, you may have seen the data that in Louisiana vaccination rates have gone up three fold in the last two weeks overall for the country vaccination rates are up 56 percent in the last two weeks. So I think maybe I’m trying to look on the bright side of this. What’s the silver lining of this? It is that people are waking up to this. This may be a tipping point for those who have been hesitant to say, ‘Okay, it’s time.’ I hope that’s what’s happening,” he added.
“That’s what desperately needs to happen if we’re going to get this Delta variant put-back in its place because right now it’s having a pretty big party in the middle of the country,” Dr Collins said.
The bad news is that, at this point, society may not break completely free of the hold of COVID-19, said Dr Megan Ranney, associate dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
“We are never going to go back to a pre-pandemic reality. And I do agree that we do have to become comfortable with the fact that this virus is going to be sticking around,” said Dr Ranney. “Our goal is to decrease severe illness, hospitalization and death. But there are still some things we don’t really know. We don’t know how much this novel variant, the Delta variant affects children. It is our responsibility to keep them safe until they can get vaccinated. And it's our responsibility to stop these surges while there are still so many who are unvaccinated.
“Listen, there are 200 hospital workers in San Francisco who have gotten sick over the last couple of weeks because of exposure, largely to unvaccinated people who caught Delta, who then got the vaccinated sick,” she added. “That’s not fair. So, yes, we have to learn to live with this, but today is not the moment where we drop our precautions. When we get all of our kids vaccinated, when we know a little more about the long-term effects of the breakthroughs, then that’s the point in which this becomes yet another virus that's part of our day-to-day life.”
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