USA: Governors in "war" for vaccines and masks 2:56
Editor's Note:
John F. Banzhaf III is Emeritus Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University School of Law, and founder and retired CEO of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
He led the successful movement to ban smoking in workplaces and public places and advocated requiring smokers and the tobacco industry to pay their fair share of the costs of smoking.
The opinions expressed in this comment are solely those of the author.
You can find more opinion pieces at CNNe.com/opinion.
(CNN) -
It's time to stop forcing the majority of vaccinated Americans to adjust to those who refuse to take this simple step, especially now that at least one COVID-19 vaccine has been fully approved.
The rise in infections caused by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has made it clear that the unvaccinated pose a deadly risk to themselves and others.
Vaccinated workers, students, airline passengers and others who go out in public should not have to bear the risks and enormous financial costs that the unvaccinated impose on society.
Think about what we do with smokers.
When it became clear that secondhand smoke threatened the health and lives of innocent non-smokers, governments and decision makers turned tough on smoking in public.
advertising
Schwarzenegger insults the anti-vaccines 0:58
They made it much more difficult, if not impossible, for reckless smokers to light cigarettes in restaurants, sidewalks, public transportation, and other places where non-smokers have to breathe their toxic fumes.
Using the same sound reasoning, many employers, universities, theaters, sports arenas, and other venues are beginning to insist that their workers, students, and patrons be vaccinated - a move that is expected to accelerate with the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine. week by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
ANALYSIS |
What the ivermectin debacle reveals about anti-vaccine hypocrisy
The refusal of many Americans to get vaccinated has imposed financial costs on the rest of us.
For example, in an analysis last week, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the cost of hospitalization for treating preventable COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients during June and July was $ 2.3 billion, with costs "borne not only by patients but also by society more broadly. "
And that number is dwarfed by incalculable additional costs from closings, occupancy restrictions at restaurants and elsewhere, disruption of education now and in the future, jobs lost to layoffs, and Americans struggling to pay rent. and mortgages or lose their homes.
We need to make sure that those financial costs are at least borne as much as possible by those who are responsible for them, and not by the majority of those who received their vaccinations.
People can claim that they have the right to refuse vaccination.
But that does not give them the right to put the lives of others at risk, nor to force the majority to pay for their bad decision.
They recognize US solidarity to guarantee vaccines 2:44
Once the American public began to focus on the enormous costs of smoking rather than simply the risks that smoking posed to passersby, many steps were taken to demand that smokers bear a fair share of those unnecessary financial costs.
An example can be found in the Affordable Care Act, which includes a 50% surcharge on health insurance rates for smokers.
While another is the ever-increasing tax rates on cigarettes in a growing number of jurisdictions.
6 unvaccinated church members die, says pastor 1:40
Years ago, I helped persuade our nation's insurance commissioners to agree that when people engaged in behaviors that substantially increased their health risk and related medical costs, such as smoking, they had to pay more for health insurance. .
This policy was based on a basic principle: it's your monkey;
keep it off my back.
And by making smoking more expensive, it had the secondary benefit of helping induce many people to quit smoking.
Covid-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated cost the US health system $ 2.3 billion in June and July, according to analysis
Applying this policy to those who refuse to get vaccinated should be even more effective, because getting vaccinated is quick and easy, while for many people quitting smoking is difficult, if not impossible.
This is what those who have been vaccinated and are being victimized should demand:
1. Vaccine refusers should pay more for health and life insurance, just as long-time smokers have.
For example, Delta Air Lines announced this week that starting in November it will charge its unvaccinated employees up to $ 200 a month more for health insurance, and will also limit the number of sick days unvaccinated employees can take if they contract covid-19.
2. When unvaccinated workers, students, or others are required to be tested frequently, they and no one else should bear the cost of testing.
Learn about Delta's measures for unvaccinated employees 0:53
3. If the unvaccinated want to get hotel rooms or board cruise ships or fly on airplanes, they should pay more to cover the additional costs of thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting places they can infect.
They should also charge more because of the additional charges associated with the requirement that all airlines, bus and train passengers wear a face mask.
Covid-19 is now an "epidemic of the unvaccinated."
But those vaccinated continue to be unnecessarily exposed to risks, no matter how small, of illness, hospitalization, "long covid" and death.
We vaccinated have to wear face masks in many places, like offices and airplanes, where they probably wouldn't be needed if most Americans had their vaccinations.
And sadly, those vaccinated are also forced to bear most of the financial costs, so some may continue to refuse.
Let's stop pampering the minority and hold the unvaccinated accountable for the consequences of their own deadly decisions.
Covid-19 vaccines