During the COVID-19 scourge last year, the nation's leaders cheered first responders, nurses, doctors and healthcare workers. Politicians saluted their courage for risking exposure to the deadly virus to treat the infected. Some died after tending patients. A grateful country celebrated them as heroes.
Today vaccine mandates, dictated by the Biden Administration, are turning these heroes into villains. Many city mayors are vilifying firemen, police, emergency responders and healthcare workers who refuse to be vaccinated. Hundreds are resigning and scores are being fired for refusing to get the jab.
In most cases, cities deny religious and medical exemptions. The intent is clear: Capitulate to the vaccine mandate or leave your job. This authoritarian approach is being justified because of the continuing Coronavirus toll. Regardless, America has turned its back on those who saved lives.
Mr. Biden also wheedled the Defense Department to mandate vaccinations for military service members, effecting 1.5 million troops. Four senators introduced a bill prohibiting the military from dishonorably discharging troops who refuse the shot. The president says he "strongly opposes" the bill.
Dwight Stirling, CEO of the Center for Law and Military Policy, says service members' refusal to take the shot will likely result in "adverse administrative action" that may include a written reprimand, a derogatory performance review, demotion or in extreme cases, an involuntary discharge.
Since COVID began, 52 service members have died of the virus. In the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 6,817 military troops were killed. More than 52,000 were wounded. Wars are more dangerous to military members' health than the virus. No more wars would save more lives than a vaccine shot.
The president's expansive mandate includes all business employers with more than 100 workers, who are required to be vaccinated or test weekly for the virus. At a time when firms are having trouble hiring workers, this will exacerbate the problem. There are currently 10.5 million job openings.
Airlines, an industry hit hard by job vacancies, are facing a December 8 deadline for workers to be vaccinated. Unions have balked and protests by Southwest Airlines employees signal trouble ahead. Airlines are struggling to maintain schedules with reduced crews. They can't afford employee losses.
This president, whose poll numbers on handling the virus are underwater, is no doubt concerned about reversing what has been an alarming rise in deaths this year after he promised to tame the pandemic and return to normalcy.
Since January 1, there have been 353,000 Coronavirus deaths, eclipsing the total fatalities during 2020 when 352,000 Americans died. Unlike today, last year Americans had no access to vaccines until December 11. This month COVID deaths surged past 700,000, another grim milestone.
A study released last month by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tracked more than 600,000 Coronavirus cases in 13 states from April through July, and concluded the unvaccinated are 11 times more likely to die from the virus if they are infected then those who received the vaccine.
Those numbers underscore the need for vaccinations. Selling the message of protecting your health should be straight forward. Americans want to be educated and armed with information so they can make their own health decisions. The majority of informed Americans are opting to take the jab.
After many communication missteps by the administration, Mr. Biden in frustration decided to coerce Americans into getting vaccinated. This is a reversal from his stance on December 4, when the president-elect said Americans would not be forced to take the vaccine. Another broken Biden promise.
As a result of Mr. Biden's plan of vaccination intimidation, your personal health is now the government's prerogative. You do not have a choice. If you want to keep your livelihood, you must surrender your freedom to make your health decisions.
Will it work? There are reports more Americans lining up to get the shot. The CDC estimates an average of 785,133 vaccine doses are being dispensed every day. But at what cost to freedom? And is the Unity President further dividing America into two camps: the vaccinated and unvaccinated?
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration's resident COVID sage, recently told National Public Radio (NPR) that researchers "have estimated that around 70% to 85% of the country needs to be immune to the Coronavirus for COVID-19 to stop spreading through communities and peter out."
Latest figures from the CDC show 57.7% of Americans have been fully vaccinated, meaning they have received two doses of the vaccine. By any measure, the progress toward Dr. Fauci's goal of vaccinating 70% to 85% of the population is proceeding at a snail's pace.
Months from now it will be revealing to learn if the Biden dictate significantly moved the needle on vaccinations. Even if it works, the president's actions will be studied by politicians invested in government control. Meanwhile, there are privacy and religious freedoms that have been trampled.
New lawsuits are sprouting against the mandate, although none have prevailed so far. In the latest, 24 plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the government, asking a temporary restraining order. The lawsuit claims religious and medical exemptions have been ignored.
Many medical elitists who lobby for the mandate believe some Americans are just too dumb to decide for themselves to get the vaccine. Some Americans have to be forced against their will for the good of the country. But that logic is a slippery slope that may lead to loss of personal health decisions.
For those who agree with the mandate, consider this: Cancer and heart disease are the leading causes of deaths in the U.S., killing 1.289 million last year, far more than COVID. The cost of hospitalization and treatment burden hospitals, run up billions of dollars in bills and create untold human suffering.
Under the Biden health doctrine, a future president in consultation with health experts may decide the way to save lives is through elimination of health risks, such as obesity and smoking, major contributing factors in cancer and heart disease.
An executive order would follow mandating businesses and municipal, federal and state agencies, test workers for obesity and smoking. Unless those employees lose weight and quit smoking, they would be removed from their jobs. The medical community would be first to jump on board.
Don't shake your head and guffaw that it could never happen. Many made the same assumption about a vaccine mandate for Americans. Did anyone really believe the U.S. government could force people to give up their jobs for failure to comply with a vaccination requirement?
The Singapore experience with Coronavirus serves as a cautionary tale for the administration pursuing an autocratic strategy to arrest COVID.
When the Singapore government rolled out its vaccines, it undertook an extensive propaganda campaign, targeting the most vulnerable in the population. It worked. About 84% of Singapore's population of 5.6 million have been vaccinated. The virus should be over, right? Wrong.
The number of new cases recently reached 3,900 this month, one of the worst daily totals since the start of the pandemic in the island-state. Currently, infections are running an average of 3,217 a day. Daily deaths have also spiked, reports the Singapore government. There is a lesson for America.
The goal of zero cases and zero deaths is unachievable. The virus will continue to mutate. Mandates will not change that. Vaccines work but until a population achieves immunity the virus will linger. No government can protect every citizen from a virus. If it could, influenza would be no threat today.
Americans' healthcare decisions are not the providence of government. As abortion proponents remind: Our bodies, our choice. The vaccine mandate is the first step toward total government control of our health. That is a freedom no American should be forced to forfeit.
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