Opinion: Everyone Should Get The COVID-19 Vaccine

As students finished coursework last semester and packed their belongings to return home, COVID-19 had already taken the lives of over 300,000 Americans. Now as students return to campus just one month later, the virus has added 100,000 Americans to the death toll. It has been a year since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the United States, but cases and deaths from the disease continue to rise at alarming rates. 

Over the holiday break, however, the light at the end of this long and dark tunnel appeared in the form of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

The highly anticipated vaccinations began rolling out to essential workers in mid-December with future plans to eventually vaccinate the general population before the end of 2021. 

Despite the good news, many have raised concerns about the vaccine’s safety and testing procedures. Others complain about the possibility of mandatory vaccinations, saying it leads to too much governmental overreach. As the reality of a vaccine moves into sharp focus for more and more Americans, these questions must be seriously addressed in order to ensure a return to normalcy.

Some have accused the vaccine of being “rushed” to the point where they find it untrustworthy or even politically motivated. 

According to Dr. Jennifer Pancorbo of North Carolina State University, the average vaccine takes five to 10 years until it is ready for public use with most of that time dedicated to initial research, lab tests and eventually, clinical trials. Under normal circumstances, a highly bureaucratic system must approve the vaccine for public use. However, government agencies spent the last year preparing for the COVID-19 vaccine, so red tape was cut to a bare minimum allowing a swifter production process.

This expedited process, called Operation Warp Speed by the Department of Health and Human Services, cleared the path for the COVID-19 vaccination to reach as many people as possible in record time. Once the Pfizer vaccine emerged as an early and highly effective candidate, the HHS decided to authorize its mass production and distribution, concluding that the potential benefits far outweighed the potential risks. 

But even after the COVID-19 vaccine’s development and distribution, many worry that a vaccine mandate enforced by the federal government, the states, local municipalities or private entities would threaten their personal rights. 

According to University of California law professor Dorit Reiss, the larger the entity, the less authority it would have to implement and enforce such a mandate. If a private company wanted to require all of its employees to get vaccinated at the risk of termination, it would be within its rights to do so. Of course, this excludes medical or religious exemptions made within reason and in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The federal government cannot make such bold moves to compel citizens nationwide to get vaccinated, but they can go as far as to institute a COVID-19 vaccine as a passport requirement.

Getting the COVID-19 vaccination will have to be a personal decision for everyone as soon as it is available to the general public. Because of the unique risk COVID-19 poses to the health and wellbeing of immunocompromised people, the public campaign to give as many Americans the vaccine will be loud and compelling. 

While it may not be a magic bullet that will make COVID-19 disappear, vaccines have been proven to be the safest and most effective way to significantly reduce disease. Disinformation and conspiracy theories cannot possibly match the overwhelming evidence in support of vaccinations and if we want a more normal future, we must listen to the science and protect ourselves and each other.

Austin Gaebe is an Opinion Writer. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinGaebe.