Commentary: Mandates Conspiracy? Not!

This opinion is mainly addressed to those who oppose any kind of vaccine mandate. Already, in the United States, vaccine mandates exist for polio, chicken pox, diphtheria, measles, rubella, tetanus and mumps. The first mandate was passed in Massachusetts for smallpox in 1827. We also have other types of mandates, such as seatbelt requirements, speed limits, mandates enforced by laws. 

Mandates are not conspiracies. As a matter of fact, without mandates we would still be suffering the agonies from polio. It is believed that if polio still existed in the USA, it would cost over $30 billion a year to take care of its victims. Only three countries oppose polio vaccination. Those three countries are Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. They do not allow polio vaccination, based on the conspiracy theory mainly of right-wing terrorists like Boko Haram, Taliban, and Isis. They oppose any kind of polio vaccination, considering it a plot to make Muslims infertile. They pose the threat of spreading it further. 

For those who think that the mandate is something new, please bear in mind that mandates are as old as mankind. Human civilization would not survive without mandates. 

We should view this vaccine, not as part of our religious or political philosophy, but as a war between the virus and the human body. The virus spits into the air like bullets. The vaccine is like a bulletproof vest. The bullets will not penetrate your body if you have been fully vaccinated. If you are not fully vaccinated, and even if you are, some bullets will enter. However, 95% of all the new admissions for COVID in hospitals and 99% of the deaths are patients who have not been vaccinated.

Please get vaccinated, mandated or not. Fighting Covid requires interdependence, not independence.