As new COVID variants continue to emerge, eventually spreading into the U.S, the urge for people to get vaccinated and the development of booster shots have significantly increased. Because of the unvaccinated people, the spreading of these viruses rapidly grows in small communities which eventually spread into larger communities.

If the Supreme Court were to require vaccinations, it would not only help with the decrease of the spread of COVID and its numerous variants, but it would also ensure the safety of those around the country. 

Healthcare workers especially need to have required vaccinations in order to be able to serve others in the community. With hospitals being filled almost every day, an unvaccinated health care worker could possibly carry some kind of virus, mask, or no mask, from any patient that could test positive for the COVID virus.

The vaccines do not only help with the safety of family and friends, but they continue to help those in the community and around the world. When numerous people get vaccinated, it could save the lives of future generations. Children that are being born during the pandemic will always have the risk of catching COVID and have to worry and learn about what the virus is. If enough people were to be vaccinated, future children would be much safer.

COVID will always be around and there is nothing Americans can do about it, however, taking those precautions are crucial if Americans plan on being able to enjoy activities without having to worry as much about the risk of catching COVID, how safe their children will be at school and the general well-being of the country.

On Jan. 14, the Supreme Court made the ruling to block the Biden administration from enforcing vaccine requirements for large private businesses, but they allowed the mandate for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid. The Supreme Court stated that to require the vaccinations of nearly 84 million Americans simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees goes against the public’s rights and that OSHA does not have the power to regulate public health so broadly.

Though the Supreme Court allowed the mandate for medical facilities, this doesn’t help with those that work in those large private businesses. Yes, unvaccinated people are required to wear masks, but anybody can fake a vaccination. Submitting a negative COVID test weekly does not help with preventing the spread of the virus at all. If workers were to take the rapid COVID tests, there is the possibility of getting a false negative, risking the chance of having that person spreading the virus to multiple people in the business.

Supreme Court, health care workers should have been required to be vaccinated from the beginning, before working around sick people. It makes absolutely no sense to only require nurses and doctors to be vaccinated and not their patient.

There is an immense difference between pro vaccine and pro vaccine mandates. When thinking about mandating vaccines, it may sound like a good plan to eliminate numbers of positive COVID cases in the country. The more thought you put into it the more you begin to realize how morally wrong it really is.

The most obvious reason mandating vaccines is clearly erroneous is because of our rights as an American citizen, our rights of freedom and choice. The Bill of Rights guarantees citizens the right to personal autonomy, which means that an individual’s decisions concerning their personal life are none of the government’s business. A vaccine mandate should never even be considered in America, a country solely based on freedom and choice. There are always alternatives to vaccines. However many vaccines are heavily recommended.

The phrase ‘my body my choice’ is commonly heard in America, this simply means that the government should not have a say about what a person does with their body. Usually this phrase is used for the topic of abortion but it can also be used for vaccine mandates. People tend to be hypocritical and completely forget the phrase when it comes to vaccines. Things like abortion and vaccines should always be an individual’s choice, neither should be deemed legal or illegal.

There is a lengthy list of reasons why people are against vaccination mandates. Anything from freedom of choice to the unknown dangers can be very off putting for people. Just because it worked well for one person does not mean it will for everyone like young people, old people or people with compromised immune systems. At that point the vaccine becomes more dangerous than not getting it and risking the chance of getting COVID, considering the amount of people who have these issues and sadly passed from the vaccine. Numbers from Dec. 2021 show 10,483 reports of deaths related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

 At the end of the day vaccines are currently not mandated for every citizen. Vaccines are mandatory for travel to certain countries. Vaccines are also becoming mandatory in some workplaces. Mask and vaccine laws are constantly changing but hopefully it will never get to the point where vaccines are required for everybody eliminating choice on if you want to put the vaccine in your body.