Head to Head: Vaccine mandates are authoritarian and un-American
Brynn Lundy/The Lion's Roar
A student gets a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine administered by a Southeastern nursing student on campus.
Within the past few months, several institutions around the country have indicated that they will implement vaccine mandates. It reads like something out of a dystopian novel or sounds like some conspiracy theory you would find on Alex Jones’s website: but it is real.
President Joe Biden announced a vaccine mandate for federal workers in late July. Several other companies such as Walmart, Google and Disney have announced similar requirements. Schools and universities around the country, including both LSU and Southeastern, announced that they will seek to mandate the vaccine once it has received FDA approval.
San Francisco announced that proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test will be required to enter certain indoor settings such as bars, restaurants and gyms. New Orleans has also announced similar requirements.
As I read all of these developments, I can’t help but wonder how we got here. Why are people who have legitimate concerns about a vaccine that has not yet been fully approved being treated so harshly? How are these mandates even possible in the United States?
Regardless of whether you have been vaccinated or not, the idea that getting a controversial vaccine should be mandatory for you to live your normal life should concern you. I will not mince words: it is authoritarian and immoral.
We are living in an environment with incredibly inconsistent information about the vaccine from almost all sources, even the CDC. Yet, we are also in an environment where the rules cannot be questioned. Even suspicion of the vaccine is not tolerated.
It was only a couple of months ago that we were told by President Biden and the CDC that vaccinated people did not have to wear masks. Now, we are being told that because of the new Delta Variant, even if you are vaccinated, you must wear a mask.
Given these developments, I don’t think it is unreasonable to question the effectiveness of the vaccine. If you still have to wear a mask and still catch COVID, what is the point of getting vaccinated?
This is the question that a sizable portion of the American people are asking. They are hearing so much conflicting information. They are frustrated and feel lied to.
We were told that if they get the vaccine, our lives will go back to normal. Now, even with a vaccine, we have the same restrictions we had a year ago.
In a healthy democracy, everyone would have an opportunity to examine the given data and have a say in what the restrictions should be. However, from the very beginning of this pandemic, this has not been the case.
Of course, this pandemic has been devastating. People have lost their loved ones and as I write this, hospitalizations and cases are increasing dramatically in Louisiana. Every death is a tragedy, and I am in no way trying to discount anyone who has lost their life to COVID-19.
With all of this being said, people still have a right in this country to question their government, and they should. The CDC is not infallible, Dr. Fauci is not infallible, no expert is infallible. The words of experts should not be treated as gospel.
We have handed a concerning degree of power to both the state and federal government over the past two years. The precedent of governmental control we have set is absolutely terrifying.
Almost every single one of these decisions was made by a bureaucracy. People who were not elected and have no accountability. Drastic decisions that have dramatic impacts on our everyday lives are being made without our consent. There is absolutely no sign that these bureaucrats will allow us to return to the “old normal” anytime soon.
They locked us inside of our homes, forbade us from going to church and now, it is a very real possibility that proof of vaccination will be required to go to certain indoor settings. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is already a reality in New Orleans.
The amount of pressure and coercion to take this vaccine is not at all democratic. The more vaccine mandates are announced, the more those who have not been vaccinated will be hesitant and even hostile.
We cannot allow our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms to be treated so frivolously. The American people deserve a say in conversations surrounding the vaccine. We cannot afford to grant the government the power to force us to take a quickly developed vaccine.
Editor’s note: This opinion piece is one of two articles in a head-to-head series. Read the other opinion piece here.
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Dylan Meche is a Political Science major from Baton Rouge and serves as Opinions Editor. He has been a reporter for The Lion's Roar since August of 2019....
Gretchen Johnson • Aug 24, 2021 at 6:46 am
Excellent article, Dylan. Your courage amidst the constant bullying of the thought police is commendable. mRNA shots are not like previous vaccines, according to what I have researched. They have never been done before and the test on lab animals did not go well. If you choose to be part of an experiment then by all means go for it, but forcing others to lose their jobs that support their families and their chances at a college education for a virus with a 99% recovery rate for most people is deplorable.
Dan • Aug 24, 2021 at 1:02 am
I’ve waited for several months to get a vaccine, I wanted to see for myself what the data presented over the time frames not studied with these vaccines. I decided that the Delta variant changed the math with just keeping it at bat with social distancing. I got the J&J vaccine at the beginning of August. However that being said I do not support mandates, like myself people should be allowed to make their own informed decisions and the government should support their citizens. From Day one they should have backed their citizens just like the did Moderna and Pfizer with lots of cash and legal immunity. I bought stock in Modern back in March when I saw under operation warp speed the government was granting them those privileges, they couldn’t lose. I assumed they needed legal immunity for very possible real unknown and damaging side effects down road. I assumed the government would also bridge that kind of guarantee to their citizens with a guarantee that if they come to any harm related to these vaccines they would support them for taking the risk. However unfortunately that was not the case. Now it has gotten so dystopian that instead of encouraging people they are just going to force them. If the goal of vaccines is to help people, then help them. Don’t fracture society with mandates. The social divisiveness this is going to cause is going to be just as concerning as a contagion like covid. If you care about people this is not the way to help them. Our leadership is blind with power, and lacking integrity and empathy. This is setting a dangerous precedent and if you have a democratic bone in your body you should be concerned. We should be able to ask questions, think critically and have choices.
Irvin Raymond West • Aug 23, 2021 at 11:35 pm
“vaccine mandates sounds like some conspiracy theory”? With current FDA approval, (as of August 23), I would remind the author that the Covid 19 vaccine joins the list of DTaP, IVP, MMR, VAR, Tdap, etc, approved vaccines, that are required for entry into K-12 schools in Louisiana, as well as Louisiana Universities. As a 60 plus year old Alumnus and current student, I remember the pre-Polio vaccination days as an elementary student. Our school had 4-5 student’s with leg braces and two in wheelchairs. Two of our fellow students, with braces, just told us that they had Polio. Being inquisitive about the 2nd and 4th graders in wheelchairs, one teacher finally told us they were inflicted with the same disability as FDR ( I’ll let you read up on President Roosevelt’s ailment). When the Polio Vaccine was distributed in 1961, ‘everyone’s Parent’ had us standing in long lines for the vaccine, and we were eager to avoid the crippling disease we witnessed at school. Today, for the most part, the only Polio survivors around today are 60 plus year old folks in wheel chairs, which most young folks figure are just old people in wheelchairs. I doubt if any current SLU students know anyone with Polio today. Added to this, we have pockets of anti-vax folks, who refuse to vaccinate their children, as a result we have had sporadic out breaks of Measles, Mumps ,etc in schools causing needless suffering among the unvaccinated, and fear among their vaccinated classmates.
Joel Ryan • Aug 23, 2021 at 6:42 pm
Couldn’t agree more! Cannot believe the university mandated this! I am NOT taking the vaccine.