In general I am not a big fan of vaccine mandates as I believe that individuals should not be threatened to basically get the vaccine or else lose their jobs as well as other basic freedoms. The mandate craze seems to be the worst in New Zealand where the prime minister has basically stated that there will be two classes of people. Those who are vaccinated will have freedoms and those who are not vaccinated will not.
To me there are some few situations where vaccine mandates make sense. For example those who work in nursing homes should be vaccinated as they are working with those who at the most risk from Covid. Likewise those nurses and physicians who are taking care of cancer patients should be vaccinated – again because they are working with those patients who are at the most risk from Covid.
However widespread, over encompassing vaccine mandates are not only un-American, but in certain situations do much more harm … harm to the nation in general. Let’s take, for example, the empty grocery shelves, and the coming Christmas dearth of certain toys. You might think that these two examples have nothing to do with mandates, but au contraire, let me educate you.
Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, warned of harm to supply chain logistics caused by government and industry imposition of vaccine mandates for truck drivers.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) president argues that the looming U.S. vaccine mandate would see affected carriers lose 74% of their unvaccinated employees or 34% of their driver workforce as drivers leave to small carriers, retire or resign.
In a September survey, it found that only half of surveyed drivers were vaccinated, and 62% of the unvaccinated said they would not get vaccinated under any circumstances, with a similar number saying there were no incentives the company could provide to change their mind. If facing a vaccine mandate, 25% of the unvaccinated said they would leave the industry.
Okay, so you might say, “we lose a few truckers because of vaccine mandates. What’s the big deal?”
Mark Willis, host of SiriusXM’s Road Dog Trucking News, told Breitbart News on 10/25/21 that vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration and businesses are exacerbating an existing national shortage of about 80,000 truck drivers.
80,000 … that is a big deal!
Plus when you think about it, mandating vaccines for truckers is close to the epitome of ludicrousness.
Again from Mark Willis, “Truck drivers are the masters at social distancing. They are in the trucks 11 hours a day, pretty much driving. They’ve got a 14-hour duty cycle, but many, many times, the men and women driving these big rigs are by themselves, and they don’t come into contact with a lot of people at all.”
Perhaps after mandating vaccinations for truckers, President Joe will be mandating vaccines for all those in solitary confinement.
www.californiacontrarian.com
10/29/21