Hailey Peck is sophomore journalism major at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes about politics and international issues.
After thousands of deaths in the U.S. alone, public health and safety is continuously falling second to our political beliefs. On Sept. 9, President Joe Biden mandated that companies housing over 100 employees, require either a vaccine or a negative weekly test. This caused an uproar in the states we most commonly see voting red.
Prominent Republicans accused Biden of running an authoritarian regime and encroaching on our personal freedoms protected by the Constitution. However, people are accusing a move that protects the entire population as being authoritarian. This just further proves the point that it has nothing to do with the mandate itself and everything to do with the party that enacted it. COVID-19 and its vaccine following it have become a political viewpoint instead of a global health issue that it is.
Vaccine requirements are nothing new. Public and private schools alike have required vaccines for children to attend since the 1850s. Think about the last time you heard a parent complain that their child needs an HPV or chicken pox shot and accuse the school district of being authoritarian. Rarely do people have problems with the vaccine requirements in schools, yet when the government enacts one to save lives, people protest. This is because schools don’t have political affiliations, but the government does.
Over the past couple years, the political divide in the U.S. has been brought to light. According to a study with the Pew Research Center, it was found that over 81% of Republicans and Democrats have an unfavorable view of the opposite party. According to an interview The Atlantic had with the Pew Research Center regarding their study, “[E]ven things that are ostensibly not about politics are still subject to political divides.” Things such as health and diseases aren’t safe from these divides, which is seen with the vaccine.
The coronavirus pandemic has been political since the beginning, and now it is affecting our response. When the first cases appeared all the way back in March 2020, the Trump administration acted as if it was no big deal in hopes of helping reelection. The Trump administration was painting a picture to Americans that nothing could go wrong under his control, not even a deadly virus. He had hoped to keep his followers that had originally voted for him with his carefree, do-what-I-want attitude. Former President Donald Trump said in a speech on July 4th, 2020 that “99% of COVID-19 cases are totally harmless.” In reality, the World Health Organization stated that 15% of patients suffering from COVID-19 had a severe case and 5% were in critical condition. It has been made known multiple times that even if the disease does not kill you, it can make you seriously ill.
Those that followed Trump are now the same people resisting the vaccine. The Republican Party has made it a mission to oppose anything the new Democratic administration has to offer. This leaves Americans afraid of losing their lives because some have too much pride to simply allow another party to do something for the common good.
A prime example of this is Mississippi, which, according to The New York Times, previously led the U.S. in childhood vaccination rates and is known for its strict legislation regarding vaccines, but has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country.
Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi is one of the many governors protesting this mandate, and tweeted his concern that the vaccine was mandated through the federal government without popular input. Yet according to an AP-NORC poll, 55% of citizens were in favor of a mandate for government workers, compared to the 21% that opposed it. There were similar statistics supporting mandates for those in teaching, health care and public work in general. Americans have pleaded with the president for months to enact some sort of mandate, so I would argue these claims of the people having no choice and their freedoms being taken is an excuse to use the pandemic for political gain: reaching the far-right Trump supporters for their votes.
These governors are playing the devil’s advocate, not because they actually disagree with the mandate, but so they can gain political traction with their constituents. However, at the rate the variants of COVID-19 are strengthening and spreading, there will quickly be no one left to vote unless we make a move now.
The new plan presented by the President should be a simple and effective solution to the pandemic we are fighting every day. As more continue to die, it is clear that action is needed, yet when this action is taken, it becomes political. The far right is turning a simple issue into more than it needs to be.
They like to preach that the mandate encroaches on personal freedoms and violates the Constitution. However, they seem to forget that by resisting this mandate and refusing to acknowledge the pandemic, they are denying Americans the basic right to life, which should be valued above all else.
In the end, the vaccine has become a political issue because of the political climate within the U.S. Every little thing has become a matter of left or right. The gap between the two sides has progressively widened over the years. However, regardless of any gap, the vaccine and what it does to help others should not be a debate. The vaccine is rooted in science, with proven benefits. The vaccine needs to not be political in order to allow the U.S. and the rest of the world to end the pandemic.The U.N. Refugee Agency is a global organization focused on helping refugees from humanitarian crises around the world. The Maneater encourages you to donate here: https://donate.unhcr.org/int/en/venezuela-emergency
