On Monday, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine received full FDA approval, making it the first of the vaccines to be cleared beyond emergency use.
And with that approval came a slew of vaccine mandates.
Following Monday’s announcement, WVU Medicine and Mon Health systems both announced all employees would be required to be fully vaccinated. President Joe Biden had already announced intentions to require nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars to have all employees vaccinated or risk losing federal funding; the full details are expected sometime next month.
We fully support these vaccine mandates.
In fact, all people who work in health care — most especially ones who come into direct contact with patients or residents — should be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This includes nursing homes and assisted living facilities that do not receive federal funding.
There’s a photo circulating on social media of nurses protesting vaccine mandates. Two women hold signs reading, “Last years heros this years unemployed [sic]” and “We worked thru [sic] the pandemic with no vaccine now they want to fire us!”
Yes, last year’s heroes — without a doubt. But, pre-vaccine, we were all equally dangerous to and endangered by each other (mask-use notwithstanding). This year, we have a vaccine. This year, we have an opportunity to make ourselves safer — both for our own protection and the protection of others. Frontline workers such as medical staff are perfect candidates for carrying the coronavirus from one person to another, with an increased chance of exposing someone with a compromised immune system. Being properly vaccinated ought to fall under the oath to “do no harm.”
The more the virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to develop into more deadly variants — like Delta, which is more infectious and is affecting children and young adults far more than any variant before. Cases in West Virginia are skyrocketing — and so are hospitalizations. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children accounted for almost 15% of all COVID cases in the U.S. as of Aug. 19. The only way to stop the spread is to have more than 70% of the population vaccinated, so the virus will stop replicating and mutating.
If it takes vaccine mandates from employers to accomplish that goal, then so be it.
Despite the claims that vaccine mandates are unconstitutional, employers can, in fact, legally require employees to be vaccinated as part of the terms of employment. This includes private corporations as well as the government in its capacity as an employer.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had already advised that current laws “do not prevent an employer from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19.” The U.S. Department of Justice reaffirmed this guidance when it determined the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, which some have claimed prohibits requiring employees to get emergency-use only vaccines, does not nullify an employer’s ability to implement a vaccine mandate as a condition of employment.
Besides, there is now a vaccine available with full FDA approval: Pfizer. You can ask for it by name when you set up your vaccine appointment.
