A number of liberal cities have implemented COVID-19 vaccine mandates with the purported goal of encouraging more people to get vaccinated. But really, these mandates exist for only one reason: to punish the unvaccinated.
In Washington, D.C., for example, more than 90% of the city’s population was at least partially vaccinated before Mayor Muriel Bowser’s vaccine mandate went into effect on Jan. 15. Nearly 70% of the city is fully vaccinated. That’s one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, yet we’re being told it’s not enough.
The situation is similar in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is just outside Washington. County officials are considering passing their own vaccine mandate, which would apply to restaurants, gyms, and most other indoor venues as it does in the city, even though 95% of county residents are partially vaccinated and 83% are fully vaccinated.
Clearly, Washington and Montgomery County don’t have a vaccination problem, which is why the argument that mandates are necessary to increase the vaccination rate falls flat. How much higher does the vaccination rate need to be? Do 100% of people in both areas need to be vaccinated for society to operate normally? Will everybody be forced to get boosted, too, or else?
The reason our officials won’t answer these questions is that they’re not actually concerned about the vaccination rate. They know parents have legitimate objections to getting their children vaccinated given the low risk that children face from COVID-19 in the first place. They know there are many who believe prior infection is the only immunity they need and that others are hesitant for medical or religious reasons.
Officials don’t care to convince these people otherwise. They want to punish them for not making the “right” choice sooner. They’ve decided they know best and that anyone, with good intentions or not, who questions The Science regarding vaccination deserves not only to be rebutted but also to be ostracized and punished.
This was always the logical next step of pandemic fanaticism. Remember: These officials are the same people who forcibly shut down businesses for months and restricted how they could operate for nearly a year afterward — the same people who shut down schools and still threaten to send children back to remote learning every time cases begin to rise.
Many officials proved two years ago that they don’t mind using their power to force citizens to bend to their will and to keep doing so even long after it is clear that it isn’t protecting anyone’s health. They’ll keep going until the voters force them to stop.
