MEMPHIS, Tenn. — We have tried using the carrot to get people vaccinated against COVID-19. Now it’s time to use the stick - which is a mandate that unvaccinated individuals roll up their sleeves and get the shot.
The Food and Drug Administration Monday moved the Pfizer vaccine beyond emergency use authorization to full approval. That means the vaccine is just like many others that are required for students to attend schools and colleges. And it’s time to require compliance for the public good.
The University of Memphis, where I work full time as a journalism professor, is moving toward mandatory vaccinations as soon as possible. While private colleges in the city, including Christian Brothers, LeMoyne-Owen, and Rhodes, already require students to get the shot before attending classes. It’s likely that we will see a more definitive statement from the U of M after its board meets later this week.
So as state elected leaders continue to hem and haw about vaccines and masks, private and public entities need to start saying – without equivocation – that everyone wanting to come through their doors for school or for work, must get vaccinated.
This virus is not playing. It has claimed another child’s life at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. And almost every day, we hear about another adult who died regretting that they failed to get vaccinated.
The FDA has spoken. And so should we – by stop asking – and start demanding.