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player ready...I would go out of my way to eat at a Chicago restaurant that required proof of COVID-19 vaccination for entry. Same with a movie theater, or a store, or a coffee shop or any business open to the public.
And I’m quite sure I’m not alone in feeling that way. When comparing the vaccinated with anti-vaxxers, I’ll paraphrase the late Jim Morrison: They got Fox News, but we got the numbers.
As loud as vaccine opponents might speak, the market will invariably speak louder.
With the omicron variant now in Chicago, and with the delta variant causing a new surge in cases in the city and state, it’s time for the people in charge to make proof of vaccination mandatory for entrance to bars, restaurants, gyms and other public spaces.
San Francisco and New York City have done this, and the world has continued to spin.
At this point in the pandemic, it’s abundantly clear that trusting people to make the right decisions won’t do the trick. A proof-of-vaccination requirement is a simple public health measure that will protect those responsible enough to get the vaccine, pressure those who haven’t gotten it to do so and, most importantly, help slow the spread of the virus, limiting its opportunities to further mutate.
While discussing the city’s latest surge of COVID-19 cases Tuesday, Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said: “Might we begin requiring proof of vaccination for more activities and public spaces? Yes, I think we might. I certainly am more interested in that than I am in needing to do some of the major shutdowns.”
That’s exactly right. Shutdowns, now that we have a vaccine, would punish the vaccinated and unvaccinated in equal measure.
I had my first two shots earlier this year. I’ve since had my booster shot. I wear a mask anytime I’m in a public space and I try to maintain a respectful distance when around other people.
That doesn’t make me a hero. (I wish it did. I’ve always wanted to be a hero.) It just means I’m doing the bare minimum to keep myself and others, as well as my family, safe from what is now a vaccine-preventable disease.
I know breakthrough cases of COVID-19 are possible, and there are early signs the omicron variant might be better at evading vaccine antibodies. But I also know, conclusively, that vaccinated people are less likely to get the virus, less likely to spread it and far more likely to survive if they get a breakthrough case.
Above all, the longer this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to mutate and become either more deadly or more vaccine-evasive or both.
You have a right to not get the vaccine. Absolutely. I’ve never said otherwise.
But I and what the anti-vaccine crowd might call my fellow sheep have a right to eat out or see a movie without having our health or the health of our families put at risk. We took the steps recommended by public health officials, and by doing so, our access to public spaces should be unfettered. For those who didn’t, restrictions make sense.
For anyone who says, “Well, you’re vaccinated, so if the vaccines are so great, what are you worried about?,” understand this: Breakthrough cases, while rare, do happen. I don’t want to get COVID-19, no matter how mild. I don’t want to contribute in any way to extending this pandemic.
There are people who can’t get the vaccine for medical reasons. There are immunocompromised people not as well protected by the vaccine. And there are people with children too young to get vaccinated.
The unvaccinated put them all at greater risk.
Consider this, written by Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University, and Sam Wang, a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University, and published in September in The Washington Post:
“The vaccine is simultaneously like a great seat belt and a choice to drive sober. The seat belt reduces your chance of severe injury in an accident. Driving sober reduces the risk of the accident in the first place. The vaccine does both, but it still matters if you’re surrounded by reckless drivers. No vaccine is 100 percent effective, and the more virus is around us — in this case, carried by the unvaccinated, who are five times more likely to be infected and thus to spread coronavirus — the more likely the vaccinated are to become infected.
“Then there’s the matter of children too young to be vaccinated and the medically frail who could become very ill if they have even a mild breakthrough infection. Why should their right to remain free from covid-19 be secondary to the right of someone not to be vaccinated?”
Americans, as always, have choices, and choices have consequences.
If you don’t want to get a driver’s license, don’t. Just don’t expect to be able to drive without getting arrested. If you don’t want your kids to get the usual childhood vaccinations, don’t. Just don’t expect that they’ll be able to attend school.
Across the country, we’ve seen the efficacy of vaccine mandates. Once people are told “Get the jab or find another job,” they almost always opt for the jab. And we’re all better for it.
It stands to reason that if people can’t go to their favorite bars or restaurants or shops without proof of vaccination, the same thing will happen.
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And it needs to happen.
Last month, Illinois was seeing about 2,600 new COVID-19 cases per day. The seven-day average right now is more than 7,300 new cases per day.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Illinois hospitals has doubled in the past month. And most of those cases involve people who aren’t fully vaccinated.
I’ll choose any place that requires proof of vaccine over one that doesn’t. Most will do the same. City officials should make the move and make proof-of-vaccine requirements the Windy City norm.
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