Three Cheers for Vaccine Mandates
The fast-spreading delta variant has made universal vaccination all the more crucial.
Mandates work.
Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg
President Joe Biden has announced a requirement that federal workers get vaccinated against Covid-19 or be frequently tested and face other restrictions. He’s right — and other governments and businesses should likewise require vaccination for their employees. With the delta variant racing through the unvaccinated population, mandates are more essential than ever.
The delta variant is far more transmissible than earlier variants, and produces an exceptionally high viral load. This is true even when it infects vaccinated people, as it sometimes does. This means that even vaccinated people can sometimes pass the delta variant along to others — including unvaccinated children and people with compromised immune systems.