Health Care / Medicine

Bar Association Pitches Mandatory COVID Vaccination While Opponents Demand More Deaths To Appease Moloch

NYSBA stands up for basic science.

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The New York State Bar Association passed a resolution calling upon the state government to require mandatory COVID vaccinations over religious, philosophical, or personal excuses, an announcement made even more exciting upon news that a 90 percent effective vaccine may be arriving soon. The resolution is not as hardline as it probably should be, including a number of caveats such as only requiring people to get it if the voluntary acceptance rate is too low. It’s a step back from the Health Law Section’s May report that spent about 90 pages to say, “for the love of God, get over yourself and get vaccinated before you kill us all.”

The power of a state to force people to get vaccinations is well-established. While the vagaries of federalism may well doom a federal effort to save the population from itself, states like New York are on fairly safe ground when it comes to mandate. And in New York, where religious groups that have sparked repeated outbreaks by refusing to follow public health edicts, there’s mounting concern that even with a vaccine, a wave of opt-outs could stall establishing effective immunity.

Which is why a bar association from the state hardest hit early on in the crisis is so active in proposing solutions. While critics of the NYSBA approach suggest the bar association should “stick to law,” the reality is that the public health side of this is settled and all that remains is coaxing big-talking but ultimately feckless politicians — in this case, like in most cases, Governor Andrew Cuomo — that “yes, Virginia there is a state police power that allows you to save lives.” Courts may not be able to issue advisory opinions, but state bar associations can and, indeed, are obligated to do so.

Meanwhile:

At 8:30 a.m., a group of parents, families and individuals who vigorously oppose mandatory COVID-19 vaccination marched from a central square in Albany to Cuomo’s mansion.

The rally was organized in large part by Patricia Finn, a vaccination-specialized lawyer who, for the last two decades, she has said, has represented thousands of families who have resisted vaccinations for medical and religious reasons. Finn said Friday in a phone interview that the marchers would waive signs and chant on their half hour trek to Cuomo’s mansion.

There are obviously medical reasons that prevent some immunocompromised people from getting vaccines, but not even the more aggressive May report suggested risking those people. In fact, it suggested saving those people by requiring the selfish nutjobs who pretend the Bible keeps them from believing in germ theory get vaccinated to generate enough immunity that those who can’t get vaccinated can breathe easy.

Look, I get the anti-vaxxer argument better than most people. From Fen-Phen to Martin Shkreli to the opioid crisis itself, public confidence in big pharmaceutical companies and the regulators who are supposed to police them has eroded significantly. That article about vaccines contributing to autism caught fire not because it was scientifically iron-clad, but because people around the world thought it sounded like exactly the sort of short-sighted mess a pharmaceutical company would allow to eke out a few extra bucks. But that article was ultimately debunked and for all the sins of the big drug industry, vaccination as a concept dates back to the 1000s so this isn’t exactly new ground for scientists.

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Hopefully, the bar association resolution can steel the courage of New York politicians to do the right thing and make sure we do whatever is within their power to halt the pandemic. Unfortunately, as Finn points out, Republican candidates for the NY state legislature mostly ran on a platform of expanding religious exemptions to vaccine mandates and overperformed in the election, further complicating the state’s ability to respond to the crisis.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

State Bar Passes Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Recommendation [New York Law Journal]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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