Covid Vaccine Mandates: Let’s Not Do More Harm Than the Good We Can Actually Achieve

When the Covid vaccines first came out, I got my shots as soon as I could.  When the booster was authorized, I was there.  If a fourth shot is approved, as Israel is doing, I’ll be in line right away. 

Still, I’m beginning to worry the continuing efforts to force people to get vaccinated are not helpful.  I understand the logic of the mandates, and I wish everybody would get their shots.  But clearly, there is some group of people isn’t going to. 

The Economist has reported that, in Canada, provincial rules requiring vaccinations to get into bars, gyms, and restaurants seemed to boost the number of people getting vaccinated.  I don’t know if similar studies have been, or are being, done in the United States.  One of the problems in the US, even in places where such rules are being passed, is that enforcement is spotty (to say the least).¹  It’s possible that in Canada there is more enforcement and/or more voluntary compliance.  For whatever reason, that is not true here.² 

What I’m beginning to worry about is whether the continuing push to force people to get shots is a good idea.  My concern us that trying to force people to get shots they clearly don’t want may make them less willing to get other shots, too; i.e., that hesitancy to get one vaccination might encourage hesitancy to get other vaccines. 

I know Covid is bad, but measles going through a classroom or a school like wildfire is just as scary.  Measles vaccinations³ have been one of the great medical achievements in the last 60 years.  I don’t want to lose that success because we keep harassing people to get Covid shots when they are not going to get them.  I don’t want the effort to force people to get Covid vaccinations to turn people against all vaccinations.  I know that is not what the pro-vaccination people are trying to do, but I worry it might be a result.  We need to be careful of the unintended consequences of efforts to force people to get shots they aren’t going to get.
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¹ For example, Cook County, Illinois, has a vaccination requirement for entering restaurants, but some municipalities in Cook County have said they are not going to enforce it; they will leave it to the County, which pretty much means it won’t be enforced.
² Part of the reason may be that Canada and the United States are just different countries with different traditions and customs.
³ And those for mumps and rubella.