UNITED STATES—The COVID-19 vaccine is rolling out America, and while it appears a vast number of people are getting the vaccine there are those out there who are not. It is starting to raise a very important question: can employers and the government force you to get the vaccine? The answer is not as easy as a yes or no because you to have HIPPA and laws in place that protect the individual, but at the same time a private company could potentially mandate its staff to get the vaccine in order to work at their place of business so that is another layer of confusion.

Here is the thing I can understand both sides of the argument for those who WANT to get the vaccine to get back to some level of normalcy and others skeptical of the vaccine considering how quickly it was developed. I mean in less than a year you have a vaccine for a virus that killed more than a 500,000 Americans, something we had never heard of, but virus and diseases that have been around for years, we can’t come up with a cure?

I mean I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I’m sure many of you can understand a person’s concern with this matter. Before March 2020, I had never heard the term Coronavirus or COVID-19 and now it’s a part of the lexicon and something that will be synonymous with the years 2020 and 2021 because of the massive impact it had. First you had the Moderna vaccine developed in December 2020, followed by the Pfizer and then Johnson & Johnson.

Three different vaccines, all with various side effects depending on who you ask, so people would be selective in which one they get, I know I would! Some people felt nothing after the first or second dose (Moderna and Pfizer), while others had debilitating headaches, a fever, soreness in the arm and chills throughout the body. With Johnson & Johnson we know the result, of some catching blood clots and dying. That alone would put pause of plenty of people getting the shots because your body can react differently to a drug than someone else.

No one’s body chemistry is the same, and that is cause for some to have caution about taking a vaccine that you know very little about. The ability to find a cure from this virus so quickly, and I’m not sure it’s even a cure, just raises concern. Why can’t we find cures for other illnesses and virus if we were able to find something so quickly for COVID-19?

There is NOT a single person in this country who can tell me that question has not come up for them, because it has come up for me people and I think it’s a valid question. We have now ushered into giving the COVID-19 vaccine to those between the ages of 12-15, and then soon after I’m sure it will be children 1-11. It seems quick and that quickness to try to get back to normal creates worry. How do we know there is no side-effects, 3 to 6 months, even a year after becoming what some deem fully vaccinated? That is the scary thing: we do not know.

The mask I plan to keep wearing for an extensive period of time, and that’s even after I chose or do not choose to get a vaccine. With states fast to reopen and the number of cases of COVID-19 and deaths dropping, we will not become a country where everyone is fully vaccinated, it just will not happen. People know they can frequent places without a mask, be in public without a mask, so they’ll simply say: “Well, why do I need to get vaccinated and why do I need a mask?” There is that perception will be they won’t and there is no incentive for them to do so.

Concerns are going to be raised about the work environment where people who have been fully vaccinated return to work, while those who have not been vaccinated might be forced to stay at home or socially distance or wear a mask until they choose to do so, if they make that change. Hell, I’m concerned rather restrictions are going to be placed on traveling by plane will require being fully vaccinated. There is no word of it yet, but I would not pass it by the airlines to implement such changes to put people at ease.

Rather one chooses to get the COVID-19 vaccine is his or her choice, no one can force you to do it, but you will have to determine the benefits, the drawbacks of getting the vaccine. With any vaccine it’s going to have side effects. We may not unfortunately know them all just yet.

Written By Jason Jones