Originally Posted by hummingbear

=12ptYou’re kind of jumping around a lot.Consensus on the safety & effectiveness of the vaccines is very widespread. Dissension on that point within the mainstream medical &/or scientific community is very much a minority opinion. Scientific consensus on mandates is less broad because it’s less a scientific question than a social one- how much force do we have the right to impose on people in the interest of safety? In other words, scientists largely agree that vaccine mandates would save lives- whether or not they are ethical is not their field to speak to.

For my part, I do have my own concerns over large sweeping government mandates; particularly anything that enlarges the authority of the presidency as you’ve alluded to. I also think a lot of this outrage overlooks the fact that there is a lot of precedent in our country both present & past for vaccine mandates. Indeed, many of the loudest voices against the mandates have willingly subjected themselves & their families to multiple mandatory vaccinations in the past. The only difference was that they weren’t being worked into a politically motivated frenzy at that particular time.

Lastly, I totally understand the emotional fatigue with this prolonged pandemic, and the perception of moving goalposts. However, as our understanding of the virus evolves- and the virus itself mutates- it should be understood and even expected that our approach to the problem will also change over time. It would be incredibly stupid to still be running the playbook from March ‘21; even if you personally prefer it. The fact that our strategy has changed since the pandemic’s onset is not in & of itself proof that what we are doing now is wrong.