SUMMARY: We, as a nation, can not afford people who chose not to get vaccinated because of misinformation. They are a danger to all of us and must be held accountable for their inaction. This includes financial penalties for making a terrible choice.

According to KFF, “our analysis of CDC data indicates there were 37,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in June and another 76,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in July, among unvaccinated adults in the U.S. We explain below more on how we arrived at these numbers. If each of these preventable hospitalizations cost roughly $20,000, on average, that would mean these largely avoidable hospitalizations have already cost the U.S. health system billions of dollars since the beginning of June”.

That is an expense that every one of us is going to have to pay.

We thought that the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the FDA would lead to a lot more vaccinations, but anti-vaxxers are already coming up with excuses such as “it’s a money grab by Pfizer” and “I have a strong immune system, I don’t need the vaccine.”

To fight ignorance, it’s time to take off the gloves and get tough because unvaccinated people are a health hazard. Here are some steps that I feel need to be taken:

1ne: ALL employers need to mandate that employees are vaccinated.

2wo: Health insurers must significantly raise premiums on people who chose not to get vaccinated.

3hree: Unvaccinated people should not be eligible for unemployment insurance.

4our: Anyone caught using a forged vaccination card should be subject to severe fines, possibly including imprisonment.

5ive: Health insurers should be calling their customers to urge them to get vaccinated in coordination with local HCPs.

6ix: Doctors should have the right to refuse to see unvaccinated patients.

Finally, social media MUST be held accountable for spreading health misinformation. For way too long, Facebook has gotten away with lying and allowing health misinformation on their site. They need to be fined every time someone posts vaccine misinformation.

Make no mistake. People who don’t get vaccinated are a threat to US ALL. We can’t allow the stupid and ill-informed to endanger us.