I wonder how well this will go over with NY residents on the both the far left and far right. You’ll have those on the right who want nothing to do with what government is pushing, and those on the Left who refuse to take anything developed while Trump was president. Plus, the typical anti-vaxxers, who are on all political sides
New York legislation could make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory
A New York lawmaker has proposed mandating vaccination against COVID-19 if not enough residents voluntarily get the shot once it is available.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, who represents parts of Manhattan’s West Side, earlier this month introduced a bill that would require the state to “safely and effectively” distribute an FDA-approved vaccine “in accordance with the department [of health]’s COVID-19 vaccination administration program,” according to the language of the legislation.
“While steps have been taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19, epidemiologists and public health experts have concluded that a vaccine will be necessary to develop herd immunity and ultimately stop the spread of the disease,” the bill’s support memo states. “[T]he State must make efforts to promote vaccination and ensure that a high enough percentage of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19 to develop sufficient immunity.”
Once the vaccination program has been rolled out for a while, the Department of Health would have the authority to “mandate vaccination” to anyone who can “safely receive the vaccine” if public health officials see that New Yorkers aren’t developing “sufficient immunity from COVID-19.”
The bill doesn’t define “sufficient immunity,” so presumably public health officials would have to set that benchmark.
Rosenthal told FOX 5 NY that if less than 70% of the population voluntarily gets vaccinated then the mandate should take effect.
Will this pass? Probably not. It will most likely not even get a vote. But, just bringing it up is dangerous, and could cause lots of people to rethink getting a vaccine shot, wondering just what the government is doing. As Jazz Shaw writes
But what about the people who have already contracted the novel coronavirus and survived? Don’t they count toward the total herd immunity numbers? Assuming they do, the bill still fails to explain precisely how they plan on counting everyone who either has acquired immunity or has gotten the vaccine. Surely HIPPA privacy rules have to be a consideration here.
And then there’s the question of enforcement. Rosenthal knows how bad this entire idea smells and she was quick to tell everyone to “chill†for the time being. She claims that nobody is going to “come to your house in the middle of the night and stick a needle in your arm.†But her assurances ring rather hollow. Attempting to enforce this law, assuming it passes, would be a disaster waiting to happen.
COVID Police!
Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay took the right tone in responding to this proposal. While he plans to get the vaccine himself (and urges his constituents to do likewise), he described Rosenthal’s proposal as a “knee jerk reaction… to take away civil liberties.†Welcome to New York, Mr. Minority Leader. Perhaps you haven’t noticed during your time in office, but taking away civil liberties has been the calling card of New York Democrats since well before the pandemic blew into town.
Heck of a good point.
This is not an easy issue.
There seems to be two competing Supreme Court cases that deal with mandatory medical procedures.
The first is Commonwealth v. Jacobson in which the Court held that a vaccination mandate was Constitutional, but a person could not be forced to be vaccinated and could pay a fine instead.
The second is Buck v. Bell, in which the Court held that a “feeble minded woman” could be forced to undergo a medical procedure that would tie her Fallopian tubes, thus rendering her sterile.
The issue may be a ways down the road for many reasons:
1) There are medical reactions to the Pfizer vaccine that are cropping up. Most are mild, some not so much. More data will be needed to figure out whether the government can force a vaccine that may cause harm.
2) In the US alone, there will be a need for over 650 million doses of vaccine. It is more than likely that it will be a while until the people who want the vaccine will get it, much less those who are waiting for more data or object to the vaccine.
3) There is a question as to whether the US (or any country) has the medical personnel to administer that many doses. It is another bottleneck in the system.
4) When will “herd immunity” start to take place? At what percentage of the population that are vaccinated will we hear more about “herd immunity?”
We might as well all agree that this is not a simple issue and as a country and a planet, we are venturing into unknown territory.
Making stuff mandatory only creates creativity to evade it. I am guessing there will be a vibrant black market trade in vaccination certificates.
Most states require a lengthy list of immunizations for children to attend daycare, public and nonpublic schools.