The vaccines have been proven to be highly effective in preventing COVID infections and deaths; 95 to 99% of hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated. This is not a matter of personal choice when the COVID is a virus that affects everyone. Unvaccinated individuals allow for the virus to mutate, which affects us all. Unvaccinated people also take up vital resources when they become infected, causing the denial of care to cancer patients and others in desperate medical need. Please read the rest of this article, and then talk to your board and staff regarding a vaccine mandate at your organization.

Vaccine mandates are not new. They have been around since 1850. All of us have benefited from them; our lives, for example, would have been completely different if the polio vaccine hadn’t been mandated. Here are some highlights from this very informative article from Scientific American recommending vaccine mandates, which they argue are legal, ethical, and effective:

  • Both the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have ruled that businesses may lawfully require workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of coming to the workplace, as long as they allow for legitimate medical or religious exemptions
  • States have had constitutional authority to mandate vaccinations, and the Supreme Court has upheld this right in 1905 with smallpox.
  • Schools have required kids to get multiple vaccinations for ages. The Supreme Court upheld states’ rights to require vaccines in school in 1922.
  • Colleges and universities have required vaccinations in students, and the courts have upheld this too. Nearly 600 colleges and universities require vaccinations this fall.
  • More and more businesses are requiring vaccinations, including Uber, Facebook, Google, Delta Airlines, and Netflix.
  • There’s a lot of scientific evidence that vaccine mandates are effective

Vaccine mandates are not a denial of the past nor of the uncertainties of the future. They are in line with the best available data and recommendations from the vast majority of health and science experts regarding what we must do to reduce death and suffering.

Our sector operates on the belief that we are stronger as a community. As a community, we owe it to ourselves to protect our clients’ and one another’s health and well-being to the extent we are each able. To do that, we must take action, including requiring vaccines among those who can be vaccinated.

Read the full article about vaccine mandates by Vu Le at Nonprofit AF.