If you want to drive a car, you have to pass a test to prove your competency. Then you have to obey the basic rules of the road. No one really questions this. People do not claim these requirements limit their freedom.
As a society, we agree on social compacts. We pay taxes in return for the government providing basic services like schools and roads, police and firemen. We understand the need to contribute resources and cooperate for the common good.
Why then are so many refusing the vaccines proven to protect them from COVID? Why is it optional for them to spread a disease that has already killed 650,000 Americans and more than 4.5 million worldwide?
Some claim it is a matter of freedom of choice. They don’t think they’ll become ill and they apparently don’t care if they infect others. I am incredulous over the number of teachers and hospital workers who distrust the vaccine. I find it hard to understand a few of my friends and family who feel the same way.
Many years ago, my wife and I were cautious when considering which vaccines our children would receive. We were concerned too many vaccines given at the same time could overwhelm their small bodies. There were some vaccines we didn’t think necessary. And we continue to have concerns about the additives in them.
But COVID is a deadly virus that has turned into a worldwide pandemic. Similar to how we dealt with Polio, a terrible disease forgotten by too many, we can only defeat COVID by acting collectively. Those who refuse the vaccine allow the virus to morph into even more virulent strains. This irresponsible behavior is resulting in unnecessary death and suffering.
A free society accepts the notion that it’s okay for a person to engage in any type of behavior, as onerous as it might be, as long as that action doesn’t cause harm to others. But our personal sense of freedom does not give us the right to infect others.
As more businesses and government agencies require their employees to be vaccinated, it will soon be difficult to function without proof of one. But we shouldn’t have to wait for this to be a universal requirement.
We drive on the same roads. We share the same air. We inhabit the same planet. Unless there are overriding medical reasons, everyone should be required to have a COVID vaccine so we can move beyond this and focus on all the other serious problems we face.
(Sol Solomon lives in Sutton.)