The ongoing narrative in Florida suggesting vaccination mandates – such as for COVID-19 – are intrusions on personal freedom is a false dichotomy. Today, the country requires vaccinations for diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis, polio, measles-mumps-rubella, chickenpox, smallpox, and countless other debilitating viruses. In earlier years, a new vaccine would have been met with a ticker-tape parade down New York’s Fifth Avenue, not political platitudes. The primary obligation of any government is protecting public safety and health. The State of Florida should be leading, not in the amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations we have, but by mandating a vaccine which will dramatically reduce them.
Originally posted for the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Florida 100.