Let me state upfront where I stand on the science of vaccination: I believe that vaccination is a gift to the human race from the God whose acts we observe in the physical world as science. (Is this a convoluted sentence or what! I’m trying to say nature is the result of God’s creativity and science is the methodical observation of his creation.) Partially because of my military life and partially because I’ve looked at the science, I’ve been vaccinated against every disease that would reasonably be expected to be a threat to my life and health. I know I’ve been vaccinated against smallpox at least three and maybe four times – I’ve lost track!

I also believe that when a disease appears that becomes an existential threat to the lives of the population and the stability of social systems, vaccination, if available, can and should be required by the established government. The US Supreme Court was correct when in 1905 it ruled that the government could require people be vaccinated against smallpox. Before vaccination, smallpox was a devastating disease often killing up to one-third of those who contracted it. (And that is in populations that had been exposed multiple times to the disease. When it came to the Americas from Europe back when my ancestors came here from the British Isles, it found a native population that had never been exposed to this virus and entire populations were wiped out.) I find it hard to even imagine a disease coming into town and killing one out of every three men, women, and children, but that was the case before God granted wisdom to those who were searching for a way to prevent that common outcome.

Having said I believe vaccination is a gift of God, and that I believe God has given government the right and responsibility to require vaccination when the threat of disease is greater than the threat of tyranny, I am conflicted about government mandates regarding Covid. My conflict is this: Covid is not an existential threat. It is a serious disease right now but its reach is too short to be feared. It is new and so it will take some time for it to infect enough people frequently enough to enable it to join the other four coronaviruses that cause the common cold.
The fact that some 96% of all doctors in the US have been vaccinated against Covid says a lot about what they think about the safety and effectiveness of the current vaccines, and I have happily been Pfizered as well. But we must be honest and say Covid kills very, Very, VERY few people. (But when it does kill, it’s not pretty. Suffocation is not the most pleasant way to exit this life and I would hope that young people would attend that.) It’s new; it’s scary; but it’s not highly lethal. So is a government mandate designed more to protect the medical industry that the welfare of the populace something we should embrace? Some of the medical professionals I respect are pushing mandates because the Delta version of this virus is far more contagious than previous versions, and it is infecting younger and healthier people than before. I don’t know!

If Covid is not going to crush our society and wipe us out, is it a legitimate act of government to require vaccination to control it? I don’t think so. (I am by nature very skeptical of political motivations and propaganda, so I own my biases.) But if we are not to allow government to overreach on vaccination mandates, we must be willing to accept that there will be more serious, and at times, even fatal outcomes for those who have chosen not to be vaccinated.

Let me say this: we must accept that it is appointed unto all men (and women) to die at least once, and if some choose to leave this avenue to death unblocked, then that’s their choice and I have no argument against it. They are not going to take entire communities with them to the grave. Covid is still primarily an elderly disease. We who are elderly expect to die sooner rather than later, and there are far worse ways to exit this life than a few weeks with Covid.