Most of the country – both governments and people – has diddled over the course of the last 17 months while the virus has taken its toll, surged again, taken its toll, and surged again. With the availability of effective vaccines last January (I hate to say it, but thanks to Trump's urgency), we all breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if the vast majority of people get vaccinated, the virus would be stopped, even if not eliminated.
But there was a major problem with this scenario: almost half the people did not want to get vaccinated for one reason or another. Whether the reason was political, misinformation, or fear, the result is the same. And despite the best efforts of government and NGOs to turn this around, nothing to date has been effective.
The only solution, short of declaring a national health emergency and forcing everyone to get vaccinated, is to separate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated to the extent possible. Requiring a vaccine passport to enter any indoor establishment that is not essential, including airplanes. For essential indoor venues, like grocery stores, it means mandating masks for everyone..
Airplanes must be included because if you look at the New York Times hot spot map, what is clearly happening in the coastal south is that unvaccinated tourists are bringing the virus to resort areas and from there it is spreading. To control unvaccinated people driving to resort areas, hotels must be told to require proof of vaccination (that was done in New England earlier in the pandemic).
This must be done nationally, not left to the states. And it must be done now. States like Texas and Florida are actually prohibiting both vaccine mandates and mask mandates by local governments. There can be no hesitation. We know what hesitation brings. Actually, we have already hesitated again and the horse is out of the barn, but the virus can still be corralled.
If people continue to choose not to get vaccinated, then they cannot be allowed to infect others. This is not about their freedom not to get vaccinated to protect themselves; it's about their not having the freedom to infect others. They must pay the price for their socially irresponsible behavior by being segregated.
