SUMMARY:

• 99 percent of covid-19 deaths in June were among the unvaccinated.
•  29 percent of Americans said they were unlikely to get vaccinated — up from 24 percent three months earlier.
• Most workers do not want their own employer to require vaccination, including the vast majority of unvaccinated workers (92%).
• The authority of state governments to mandate vaccinations is clear — it goes all the way back to a 1905 Supreme Court case.
• Herd immunity may be impossible because of anti-vaxxers.

According to the Washington Post “, 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. A recent Post-ABC News poll found that 29 percent of Americans said they were unlikely to get vaccinated — up from 24 percent three months earlier. Only 59 percent of adults are fully vaccinated”.

The Post uses this argument to suggest that it’s time to mandate vaccinations, but the public does not agree. KFF reports, “while half the public overall say employers should require their workers to get vaccinated, most workers do not want their own employer to require vaccination, including the vast majority of unvaccinated workers (92%) as well as four in ten workers who are already vaccinated (42%).  About four in ten adults say employers should provide cash bonuses or other incentives to workers who get vaccinated. Still, just 12% of workers say their own employer has offered such an incentive”.

Political divisions are affecting vaccinations as well. A 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. In the process, they are ensuring that deadly variants will continue to circulate, endangering school reopenings and preventing a return to normalcy. The findings don’t mention that those who fail to get vaccinations are putting healthcare workers and others at risk and that herd immunity may be impossible.

In the United States, the authority of state governments to mandate vaccinations is clear — it goes all the way back to a 1905 Supreme Court case that upheld a Massachusetts law requiring vaccinations for smallpox. More recently, governors have used their public health powers to mandate mask-wearing and social distancing to fight covid-19. They ought to now take the logical next step and mandate vaccinations for the use of indoor spaces outside the home.

Max Boot Washington Post

The Post also reported, “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has become the poster boy for blocking mask mandates; denigrating Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — DeSantis’s political action committee sells swag emblazoned with the slogan “Don’t Fauci My Florida” — and anemic vaccination programs.

No surprise, then, that the Associated Press reports, “Florida’s covid-19 hospitalization numbers are again increasing, ending months of steady decline that began when widespread vaccinations became available and leaving doctors and epidemiologists worried as the more infectious delta variant spreads. About 3,200 COVID patients are hospitalized in the state, a jump of 73% since June 14, when 1,845 were hospitalized.… Florida reported 20% of the nation’s new coronavirus cases over the last two weeks even though it makes up just 6.5% of the population.” These numbers are the result of a scandalous failure of governance that is all too familiar in red states.”

COVID is a horrible virus that has no mercy on young or old. Social media only amplifies vaccine misinformation, but in a country where almost half the population believes that the vaccine’s implant microchips, the problems go a lot deeper. Physicians have to be the first ones to break the resistance—the need to strongly urge patients to get vaccinated. Pharma companies and insurers also need to work together to spread the message showing what being sick with COVID are really like.

The United States could see a wave of Covid-19 vaccine mandates as soon as the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to one or more of the shots, public health experts predicted.

I, personally, never would have believed that there could be so many ignorant people, but our education system has obviously failed us. It’s ok to be on the right or the left on some issues, but this affects all of us, not to mention the cost of treating those that get sick. If I were an insurance company, I would double the cost of health insurance for the unvaccinated. Yes, it’s bold, but we need bold action; we can’t continue to address COVID lightly.