Photo: WebMD
Earlier in the pandemic, the questions surrounding a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus were centered around a timeline toward production. After which, the evolving questions centered now around distribution -- equitable distribution. Who gets the first shots? With Pfizer distributing the vaccine approved by the British government, the questions about the COVID-19 virus have shifted once again.
The latest set of questions are centered on ethical medicine. Approval of the vaccination -- quick approval. Above that, another longstanding question has been regarding making such a vaccination mandatory across the United States. There are groups of people who hold the belief that vaccinations do more harm than good. I do not share their belief as scientists, but I can certainly understand where they are coming from.
Furthermore, mandatory action for a vaccination brings me back to an instance while serving in the United States Air Force from 1996 - 2000. First, though, I would like to share a video of an interview regarding the COVID-19 vaccinations and mandatory distribution by MSNBC shown below:
As I mentioned before I shared the video above, I encountered such a dilemma in the U.S. military overseas. The conundrum surrounded the distribution of the anthrax vaccine. The military was vaccinating all U.S. soldiers. Although interesting enough, not all soldiers had to receive the vaccination. Why?
The option was given to each soldier to not take the vaccination. What? Yes. The alternative was to be discharged from the United States Military with a possibility of an upgrade to honorable duty in 6 months. The last part about the upgrade has not been investigated by myself to this day.
What I do know is that a few of my fellow service personnel took the bait. I was astonished, to say the least. The result was their rapid shipment off of the overseas base (I mean rapid). Within a couple of days, they were gone. Their actual discharge process from the military took a while. I returned a few months later and one soldier was still waiting for discharge - for refusing to take the vaccine.
Needless to say, I was super surprised to see the option of refusing to take the vaccine back then. For a military soldier to refuse is rather unique. Why? Because the military owns a person once they enlist or enroll for military service. The military prides itself on taking care of soldiers. That includes preserving life if possible and being mission ready.
This also means taking a vaccine if necessary. Giving a soldier a choice strayed far from my idea of military service. Although, I would later learn that upon being told to deploy to a dangerous zone overseas, the military offers each military soldier the option to be a 'conscientious objector' and avoid deploying. Which is another subject altogether.
I believe that each American should get a vaccination for the COVID-19 virus. Simply because it is the right course of action for the greater good. There is a reason why medicine has advanced over the last 100 years to reduce unnecessary deaths due to a virus.
The Spanish Flu killed around half a million U.S. citizens. That was 100 years ago. One would think that modern medicine could reduce that number greatly with 100 years of technological development occurring in between. With nearly 270,000 Americans died due to a virus that could have been avoided, the mandatory vaccination of Americans seems more reasonable to me.
Challenges remain...
Before Americans have to actually deal with the question of being forced to get vaccinated from the COVID-19 virus, the immediate problem resides with the distribution of vaccination across the world. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine has to be stored at -70 degrees C. This is extremely cold. Dry ice can hold a tray at such a temperature.
Additionally, ultracold freezers can hold vaccine vials at such a temperature. But does the world have enough freezers to do so while disseminating the vaccine across the world? That remains to be seen.
These questions, along with past questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, will survive us living in the moment. History will write various opinions on both sides of the aisle. The challenge still remains to execute and achieve immunity, which is a story still to be written. Stay tuned!
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