I wonder how well this will go over with NY residents on the both the far left and far right. You’ll have those on the right who want nothing to do with what government is pushing, and those on the Left who refuse to take anything developed while Trump was president. Plus, the typical anti-vaxxers, who are on all political sides
New York legislation could make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory
A New York lawmaker has proposed mandating vaccination against COVID-19 if not enough residents voluntarily get the shot once it is available.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, who represents parts of Manhattan’s West Side, earlier this month introduced a bill that would require the state to “safely and effectively” distribute an FDA-approved vaccine “in accordance with the department [of health]’s COVID-19 vaccination administration program,” according to the language of the legislation.
“While steps have been taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19, epidemiologists and public health experts have concluded that a vaccine will be necessary to develop herd immunity and ultimately stop the spread of the disease,” the bill’s support memo states. “[T]he State must make efforts to promote vaccination and ensure that a high enough percentage of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19 to develop sufficient immunity.”
Once the vaccination program has been rolled out for a while, the Department of Health would have the authority to “mandate vaccination” to anyone who can “safely receive the vaccine” if public health officials see that New Yorkers aren’t developing “sufficient immunity from COVID-19.”
The bill doesn’t define “sufficient immunity,” so presumably public health officials would have to set that benchmark.
Rosenthal told FOX 5 NY that if less than 70% of the population voluntarily gets vaccinated then the mandate should take effect.
Will this pass? Probably not. It will most likely not even get a vote. But, just bringing it up is dangerous, and could cause lots of people to rethink getting a vaccine shot, wondering just what the government is doing. As Jazz Shaw writes
But what about the people who have already contracted the novel coronavirus and survived? Don’t they count toward the total herd immunity numbers? Assuming they do, the bill still fails to explain precisely how they plan on counting everyone who either has acquired immunity or has gotten the vaccine. Surely HIPPA privacy rules have to be a consideration here.
And then there’s the question of enforcement. Rosenthal knows how bad this entire idea smells and she was quick to tell everyone to “chill†for the time being. She claims that nobody is going to “come to your house in the middle of the night and stick a needle in your arm.†But her assurances ring rather hollow. Attempting to enforce this law, assuming it passes, would be a disaster waiting to happen.
COVID Police!
Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay took the right tone in responding to this proposal. While he plans to get the vaccine himself (and urges his constituents to do likewise), he described Rosenthal’s proposal as a “knee jerk reaction… to take away civil liberties.†Welcome to New York, Mr. Minority Leader. Perhaps you haven’t noticed during your time in office, but taking away civil liberties has been the calling card of New York Democrats since well before the pandemic blew into town.
Heck of a good point.