In this article I will show as clearly and concisely as I can why covid vaccine mandates have no logical basis and are morally repugnant.

Requirement for “Public Good”

In order for vax mandates to make logical sense there would need to be some “public good” component to them. That is, making Bob take the vaccine would have to lead to an improved outcome for people other than Bob.

If the vaccines led to a large decrease in the transmission of covid, that would be a public good. However, that is most definitely not the case with the current covid vaccines. In fact, the vaccines appear to lead to an initial rapid rise in infections, then a brief period of some protection, and then another period of higher infections. Overall, there is no good evidence that they reduce infection or transmission. Unvaccinated people are no more likely to spread covid than vaccinated people are.

Arguments that the vaccines reduce severe disease are of no significance regarding the case for mandates, because if Bob gets severe disease that is Bob’s problem alone - there is no public good component to it unless the vaccine prevents Bob from transmitting the virus. Which it does not.

Need for Benefits to Exceed Harm

Even if there was some public good to vax mandates, that by itself would not be sufficient to justify mandates. That public good would need to be weighed against the potential harm that people might suffer being forced to take the vaccines.

Unfortunately there is an extraordinary amount of risk involved with the current covid vaccines. In terms of adverse events, they are literally off the charts compared to other vaccines.

And both the risks and benefits of the vaccines are highly skewed by age and other factors. For young healthy people, especially males, there is a very powerful argument that the risks of the vaccines are far greater than the potential benefits. The same is true for people who have already had covid.

On top of that are risks that we may not even know about yet. There is accumulating evidence that vaccines may be contributing to an overall increase in mortality, not a decrease. There is plenty that is not yet known about the overall long term effects of these vaccines.

Forcing someone to receive a medical treatment that they do not want is a violation of bedrock moral principles regarding bodily autonomy, informed consent, and freedom itself.

I’m not saying there is no possible scenario where certain kinds of vaccines could not be justifiably required. There would need to be:

A very clear and compelling public good to be achieved.
Clear and compelling risk/reward ratios for *everyone* who was to be required to be vaccinated. Requiring a treatment for someone who is more likely to be harmed by it than to benefit from it is the very definition of medical malpractice.
A very complete and well understood assessment of the overall risks and benefits of the vaccine.

Obviously, none of these three requirements is anywhere close to being satisfied in the case of the current covid vaccines.

Therefore, requirements to be vaccinated are not only without any logical basis, they are morally repugnant. This is true at any level - government, employer, school, even your local book club.

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Evidence regarding vaccinated vs. unvaccinated transmission

The US does not track vaccine breakthrough cases in an organized way (why not is an interesting question) but England does. The evidence from there shows that for most age groups being vaccinated *increases* the likelihood of covid infection substantially. Here is a key chart: