The Delta Variant is taking off!
It may not be a popular idea among those who believe the last guy in the White House will be reinstated in August, but it is time for hard action in face of a national health threat.
As with most things politically charged, it is far past time to call for mandatory vaccines to combat COVID. I know it will cause consternation about “my body, my rights.” This plea might actually be plausible if we each lived on our own private islands with no other human contact, but we don’t! We all depend on each other to help one another stay healthy.
It may cause for calls about government overreach in telling us what we can and can’t do.
It may even cause consternation about our livelihoods if our employers say we can’t report to work without being vaccinated.
All of the above and more may be true, but it doesn’t make it any less important than keeping the nation as a whole healthy. Think of it in terms of helping to combat an enemy of the state, which it is. Our grandparents had to ration gas, turn in dishes and pans to be turned into tanks and bullets to win two World Wars. Our great-grandparents had to ration food and more to survive the Great Depression. Our grandfathers and fathers had to give up freedoms altogether when drafted for Viet Nam.
All we are being asked to do is get one or two shots over the course of a month. We aren’t having to give up anything except our time—the shots are free (and when was the last time you received free medical attention?)!
It is our national and civic duty to get vaccinated. We want to continue living our lives as free as possible. We want to be able to travel. We want to be able to go out to eat. My goodness, we just want to be able to hang out with our friends.
To do all of those things, without risking our health or lives in a way we never had to really worry about before, we have to get our vaccines.
It is time for employers to say no vaccine, no work, no pay. It is time for local and state governments to lead the charge of mandatory vaccines. It is time for the Federal government to say we must be fully vaccinated for the good of the country and the economy.
If you want to return to a job, you have to be vaccinated. If you want your child over the age of 12 return to in-person school, they have to be vaccinated. If you want to fly, take a train, ride the ferry, you have to be vaccinated.
The health of the nation isn’t dependent upon just a few of us getting our vaccines. The health of the nation depends on all eligible adults getting vaccines.
As far as government overreach, or “my body, my choice,” neither of those hold up. The government already requires us to get vaccinated for all kinds of things when we start school, so it wouldn’t be government overreach. The government also already puts restrictions on what women mainly, but men occasionally, in what we can and can’t do with our bodies.
So stop being unpatriotic, a national health and economic risk to the country, and acting the fool! Get your behind over to the local health department, grocery store, or pharmacy and get vaccinated!
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 