Boston Globe Thinks It’s A Great Time For Employers To Force Employees To Get Vaccinated

The question now becomes “do other newspaper editorial boards follow suit?”

It’s time for employers to impose vaccine mandates

Despite the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines to health care workers in the United States, there still appears to be a stubborn resistance to getting them among nursing home staff. And unfortunately, that resistance has proved to be fatal: According to a recent study by the CDC, a nursing home in Kentucky experienced a COVID outbreak when an unvaccinated worker triggered a string of infections among residents and staff. And though most residents had been inoculated, the virus still managed to spread its way through the home — disproportionately infecting unvaccinated people — and three residents wound up dead.

What’s alarming is that health care professionals are not the only workers in high-risk conditions who have been reluctant to get the vaccine. Correctional officers have also been slow to get the vaccine despite being eligible since the start of the year. As of February, for example, more than half of workers in Massachusetts’ Department of Correction had refused the vaccine, even though prisons have been vectors for the disease. Other state employees who regularly interact with the public have also shown signs of hesitancy: As of last month, 30 percent of State Police had not been vaccinated at department-run sites, indicating that many of them have yet to be vaccinated.

Interestingly, despite so many trying to say it is mostly Republican voters who have vaccine resistance, you see lots of commercials and such featuring left wing folks. Walgreens is running a commercial with John Legend, who totally appeals to Republicans, right? And it features mostly black people. So, who is that aimed at?

Numbers like these are a serious public health risk. While the United States now has ample supply of COVID-19 vaccines, the next hurdle in reaching herd immunity — which Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated might require up to 90 percent of the population to be immune to the virus — is convincing enough people to actually get the shot. That target is still far away: even though Massachusetts has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, still only about 35 percent of its residents are fully vaccinated. That’s why some employers, both public and private, must start mandating the COVID-19 vaccine. Not doing so could prolong the pandemic indefinitely, and make the return to normalcy seem more like a mirage than a soon-to-be reality.

So, both private sector and government must enforce employees taking the vaccine. I have to wonder, has the Boston Globe required all employees to take it? How about all players and employees of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. soccer, since they are all owned by John W. Henry? Interestingly, the editorial doesn’t say.

Employers have the authority to mandate vaccines for their workers, except in cases where an employee has a medical exemption or if a vaccine might conflict with their religious beliefs. And though there’s a question of whether or not federal law allows employers to mandate vaccines that are under Emergency Use Authorization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance that such mandates are a matter of state law. “Many health care facilities have required their workers to get a flu vaccine before. Why is the flu vaccine in that context different from COVID?” Emanuel said. “If anything, we ought to be mandating COVID [vaccines] because it’s a much more deadly disease.”

Well, yes, it’s lawful, however, let’s be honest: many are resistant because the vaccines were developed so fast without all the clinical trials and such of, say, regular flu vaccines. Will the employer be accountable for any side effects from taking the vaccine? They are rare, but, I saw someone taken to the hospital after taking it, as I was sitting out my 15 minutes from the second dose. It’s a slippery slope in requiring employers to force employees to get the vaccine.

Interestingly, the editorial makes no mention of the editorial board members having been vaccinated themselves.