Vaccine Mandates Show Autocracy, not Democracy

VACCINE MANDATES SHOW AUTOCRACY. On the same day that Joe Biden mandated that all US companies with 100+ employees ensure that they get vaccinated, Belize announced that all Belizeans of ages 12 and older must take the jab. Or get tested every two weeks at their own expense. Otherwise, they cannot enter any place with public access. That means not only government buildings, but food stores, banks, buses schools, any retail business, etc.

How can any democracy impose such mandates when scientists are still learning more about Covid-19? While some bad actors intentionally spread misinformation, many honest people are sincerely seeking the truth about this virus and the vaccines—only one of which has been approved by the FDA. People should be able to base their health decisions on credible reports from credible scientific sources. The government should respect their decisions and seek to persuade them rather than force them to take vaccines. Moreover, no one should have to pay for government-mandated Covid-19 tests as an alternative to taking vaccines.

Currently, Belize is administering the only FDA-approved vaccine, Pfizer, to youth ages 12-18, and AstraZeneca to those 18 and older. The FDA has only authorized unapproved vaccines for emergency use. For such vaccines the big pharma companies which produced them have no liability. Who will have liability for the side effects then?

No adult should have to take a vaccine if they think it may damage their health. There are too many reports of people worldwide suffering ill side effects, or catching Covid-19, or even dying, shortly after taking vaccines—including the FDA-approved Pfizer vaccine. And none of the vaccines provide reliable immunization. If they did, the mandates would lose their rationale.

Belize’s mandate poses health hazard

Furthermore, Belize’s deadline of October 1 presents a health hazard. About 236,000 Belizeans remain unvaccinated as of September 9. To vaccinate or test them in the 15 working days between September 9—the day the mandate was announced—and October 1 would require about 15,733 vaccinations or tests per day.

Let’s assume all 24 health centers and regional hospitals are providing these services five days a week. Each one would have to do an average of about 656 vaccinations or tests per day, or 82 per hour per clinic/hospital for an 8-hour day. This would clearly overwhelm our health care workers and induce unhealthy overcrowding inside and outside the clinics/hospitals. And it would make social distancing extremely difficult to control and so actually promote spread of the virus.

Also, we must consider how seriously it would affect the economy and their own health and welfare, if a large percentage of the 236,000 did not meet the October 1 deadline, and so be unable to enter any public building to buy their necessities—or other goods and services—after that date.

Already people of all ages and walks of life in the US are protesting these mandates. Authoritarian societies would ignore them and the contrary scientific evidence too. In contrast, democratic societies would consult a wide range of stakeholders, including the countless experienced scientists who are sounding alarms about the vaccines. So will the US and Belize turn more authoritarian, or more democratic, as a result of this crisis?