We Don't Need Vaccine Passports
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The Washington Post, CNN, and other outlets are reporting the Biden administration is considering vaccine passports. According to Press Secretary Jen Psaki, President Biden has no plans, as of now, to issue the passport federally. That isn’t because Biden’s not a power-hungry politician willing to overstep his bounds. The White House simply knows two truths. The first was acknowledged by their COVID advisor, Andy Slavitt: Americans distrust the government and would opt out of taking the vaccine if it was practically mandated. The second is the government doesn’t need to mandate the vaccine if they strategically partner with big businesses in the private sector.
The White House is developing a passport plan with federal agencies and the private sector. Americans would either have a mobile app or a printout to be scanned as proof of vaccination. If you couldn’t go into amusement parks, restaurants, stadiums, museums, schools, and so on unless you provide proof of vaccination, life would get complicated fast. If airlines alone enforce it, that would be difficult enough. If Biden is truly married to the idea, he could always use an executive order for federal land, similar to his mask mandates.
If Biden respected the people’s right to body autonomy, he wouldn’t be using a workaround through the private sector.
The question is why? There are more than enough doses purchased for anyone who wants to receive vaccinations. States have begun lifting age restrictions, so it can become available for anyone who wants it. Biden announced his goal was to reach 200 million vaccinations by his first hundred days, but we were on pace for that before waving his withered magic hands. There are plenty of Americans who want to take the vaccine.
There are also plenty of Americans who don’t need to. It’s impossible to know how many Americans have recovered. The low estimate now is 30 million. Dr. Marty Makary, who is a surgeon and professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, believed the number could be 6.5 times what we know. He wrote in The Wall Street Journal that we were already approaching a natural herd immunity and combined with the vaccinations, we’re heading toward the right direction. He estimated life would be back to normal by March, and some states have removed mask mandates. President Biden called it “Neanderthal thinking,” yet cases in Texas continue to plummet.
That isn’t stopping Biden from begging states to reinstate their mask mandates, urging Americans to take the vaccine, and plotting to make life difficult for those who don’t obey. There are thinly veiled threats. “If you want to get back to normal,” is the line they feed. Millions of Americans have already gone back to normal, as normal as their state mandates allow. Biden ridiculously stated we might be able to have small gatherings for July Fourth if we all do our part, which drew criticism from Americans not looking for permission to celebrate Independence Day with friends and family.
His goal, along with “experts,” government officials, and the media is to hold Americans hostage. Those who are a little bit more fearful will become their arm. If they see a fellow American not masked or know they aren’t vaccinated, they place the blame on them for pausing everyone’s life. They’ll push complicity, just as they have been doing.
But there’s no good reason. We’re very aware and have known for a long while who our most vulnerable citizens are. If you’re young and healthy, it’s likely you’ll never know you had COVID. The mortality rate is low. Some youth who tested positive were told to quarantine for a few days and were sent home without any medicine. They’ve put their lives on hold long enough.
And the truth is, some will never get the vaccine. If you have natural immunity, you’re obviously in no hurry. The vaccine is not FDA approved. It is available under emergency use authorization. Even though there have been great results thus far, the “wait and see” crowd isn’t as irrational as “believe the science” chanters would have you believe. Testing the guinea pigs and waiting to see how the experiment plays out is reasonable, especially if you aren’t in a danger zone for COVID.
Then there are some who don’t trust vaccines because they think they’ve been harmed or genuinely been harmed. And even if there are Americans who disagree with them, they’ll stand up and fight for their choice.
Then there are Americans who are simply mistrustful of the government. Whether informed by pure paranoia or history, they don’t want to surrender their body to the government. A “vaccine passport” doesn’t alleviate their concerns, especially since there’s no national need or urgency for it. It simply seems like something Biden wants done rather than needs done,
Experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci believe it will take much longer to return to normal life, but he’s been accused of indulging in theatrics by Senator Rand Paul, who noted he talks on camera with a mask even though he’s received the vaccine. He also admitted to lying about the effectiveness of wearing masks and herd immunity. Though they may be noble lies to Dr. Fauci, they’re still lies told to manipulate the public. With questionable credibility, Dr. Fauci was the highest-paid government official last year and is still the face the White House allows on TV to talk about the pandemic.
Other countries like Israel have already implemented vaccine passports, but that’s a slick slope and would have major privacy concerns in the US. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is refusing to force passport vaccinations. He’s heavily encouraged vaccines and implemented rollout, but he will not allow a technical and medical tyranny to take a foothold in his state. I assume he won’t be the only governor who protects his citizens in this manner.
If COVID had a higher mortality rate, was a clear danger to children, or if we weren’t so close to herd immunity, a push for vaccine passports would still meet resistance but it would make more sense. Now? It looks like a malicious power grab.
