Why are other vaccine requirements OK then?

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In an article in The Daily Beast by Justin Baragona called “Chris Wallace Grills GOP Guv: Why Do You Oppose Vaccine Mandates for COVID but Not Chickenpox?” a very basic question was asked and went unanswered. Here are a couple of paragraphs (a link to the article is below).:

“Fox News anchor Chris Wallace repeatedly confronted Republican Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts over his opposition to the Biden administration’s new coronavirus vaccine mandates and requirements, highlighting the governor’s seemingly contradictory position on other vaccines.

After President Joe Biden announced a new series of rules that will mandate all federal employees to be vaccinated and require many private-sector employees to either be inoculated or tested weekly, several Republican governors—including Ricketts—threatened to fight the president’s requirements in court.

Interviewing Ricketts on Fox News Sunday, Wallace asked the governor why he was fighting the administration’s new COVID-19 rules, especially since Ricketts insisted that he’s been encouraging vaccines and believes they work in combatting the pandemic. The Nebraska governor, meanwhile, said he felt the government shouldn’t be mandating vaccinations.

‘I’ve talked to a number of people,’ Rickets declared. ‘They’ve told me, if they make me take the vaccine, I’m just going to be fired.’

Wallace retorted that Nebraska’s school system actually requires students to be vaccinated against a series of diseases, wondering aloud why Ricketts appeared to be fine with those requirements but not a mandate for the COVID-19 shots.

‘You say it’s a personal choice. In fact, to attend school in your state of Nebraska, children must be vaccinated against a number of diseases. They must be vaccinated against Diptheria, tetanus, and pertussis; polio; measles, mumps, and rubella; Hepatitis B; chickenpox,’ the veteran anchor said.”

I would like to see each Republican governor suing the administration on this issue respond to this question. When my kids went to school or university, they each had to be compliant with all vaccines. So, why is this one unconstitutional?

And, while we are at it, I would like an answer to why these governors are putting the health of children, teachers and others at risk?

https://news.yahoo.com/chris-wallace-grills-gop-guv-162653388.html

25 thoughts on “Why are other vaccine requirements OK then?”

    • Becky, good points. Plus, the earlier ones preceded political parties from creating wedge issues. In this case, public health has been minimized to presumably garner political advantage. Keith

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  4. That is true. I remember, when we lived in the US we had to prove that my daughter has had all necessary vaccinations before she was allowed to go to pre-school. So, that is definitely a contradiction.

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  5. Please do keep us informed as it’s infuriating..
    I actually was one of the people who signed a waiver for the pertussis shot in the day for “religious” (not, it was the only way out of it) reasons simply because there were the correlations with SIDS which they had said had no connection. All I knew was too much load on the system that young and cases where I knew people that made these connections through experience. 🌷

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  6. Note to Readers: Our health care system is overrun which endangers non-COVID patients. Life threatening incidences may not be addressed or a patient may need to be transported elsewhere which adds further complications. The predominance of COVID cases are coming from the unvaccinated. So, the math is pretty simple – more who are vaccinated, the fewer the COVID cases meaning fewer COVID and non-COVID deaths.

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  8. Sadly Covid and the vaccination programmes have indeed become a political issue. Thanks to the social plague of Conspiracy Theories. In this case one engendered from The Right. Therefore if a politician is concerned with hanging onto their position and they are in a Republican area there is the urge to take ‘a stand for choice’.
    Which is rather ironic considering what is taking place in Texas on another medical issue.
    The Republican Party in its trauma of seeing an African American voted in twice as President of the USA (By majorities) has become blind and deaf to the Realties of the World and is thrashing about in the latest anger of not having its bargain basement action toy in the Whitehouse.
    As is the case with all nations, there are tragedies and low points; the years 2016 onwards may mark as the lowest (although the writing was on the wall from the moment Obama was voted in as president and the odious backlash by the Republican White At All Cost Right began).
    Best wishes to you Keith and all other level headed people.

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  9. It’s a very relevant question. I do think a small minority would argue that even those other vaccines should not be required, but outside of the small minority one must ask what Chris Wallace asked.

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    • Brendan, good point. To me, the key point Wallace is making is requiring vaccines is not new nor is it unconstitutional. And, now our hospitals are overrun with no or few beds for other critical patients. Keith

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      • Yup. And in fact, there was a Supreme Court case on this in 1905 (Jacobson v. Massachusetts). Also, fun fact: the person who wrote the majority opinion in the aforementioned case also was the lone dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson (John Marshall Harlan).

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