College students were subjected to some of the most cruel and coercive mandate policies ever established. I appreciate that you eventually came to realize that mandates are not necessary but the bottom line is they never were for this young healthy adult population. We knew by spring of 2021 that COVID vaccine didn't prevent infection or transmission yet colleges STILL push the narrative that mandates "protect the community". The entire medical community should have fought against these forced medical treatments for college students and the large majority of medical professionals are in violation of medical ethics as a result. COVID vaccine mandates persist at colleges and there are very few colleges that have dropped mandates for students that are pursing careers in healthcare. For God's sake, work harder to end this. Do better!
But even if they were safe, which they're not, it is still unethical to mandate a medication. Anyone who has completed a medical degree knows this, it is in your code of ethics that you cannot administer a vaccine under conditions of coercion. If you have forgotten this, here is an expanded ethical argument against mandated vaccination.
At the very least, there is some risk. This cannot be denied. Where there is risk, there must be free, uncoerced choice. Mandates are coercive. Mandates cause harm. There's no way around it. Ergo, they are unethical.
What is the evidence that 2 doses would be recommended in the young and healthy if they already have immunity from natural infection?
This should be spelled out explicitly, because many institutions just mindlessly follow advice like this and impose onerous mandates on their subjects without justification.
My thoughts were the high transmissible nature of the virus and the college/university social environment. Not so much protecting these mostly less vulnerable students, but their professors, family member and others they may be in contact with. As you point out in your article, there are very vulnerable populations where we saw the most hospitalizations and deaths.
Yes but what good is it if evidence is very clear that they never stopped transmission? Pfizer exec even said before the European Union that they didn’t test for that .
They do stop transmission for a couple of months after you get a booster. It blocks even asymptomatic infection for a while, and if you prevent that, you prevent transmission.
We learned with Delta way back in 2021 that the transmission-blocking effects are temporary. Like Dr Offit says, they only last a few months.
Mandating that people get vaccinated for the sake of the community with a product that only works to protect the community for such a short period of time is wildly unethical.
Thank you Dr. Offit for answering the question ( and including a link ) regarding how many doses of the vaccine a child would need if they already had a natural infection. When there is so much confusion on what is the healthiest thing to do, you help to make the answer clear. Your writing is much appreciated.
Mandates only make sense when they can actually stop or prevent a public health crisis. I have some personal experience with vaccines and crisis. My mother was a nurse in a polio hospital. My best friend in college died at age 45 from post polio syndrome. Polio was scary in a way that covid isn’t, because it disproportionally affected children. Wealthy children, at that. It tended not to afflict children in India with paralysis.
I optimistically followed New Zealand, with its 95 percent vaccination rate, but it only postponed the pandemic. Hopefully, the vaccine saved lives.
But the vaccines didn’t stop the virus from spreading and evolving. Regardless of the vaccination rates I first world countries, it continues to evolve in less wealthy countries.
College students were subjected to some of the most cruel and coercive mandate policies ever established. I appreciate that you eventually came to realize that mandates are not necessary but the bottom line is they never were for this young healthy adult population. We knew by spring of 2021 that COVID vaccine didn't prevent infection or transmission yet colleges STILL push the narrative that mandates "protect the community". The entire medical community should have fought against these forced medical treatments for college students and the large majority of medical professionals are in violation of medical ethics as a result. COVID vaccine mandates persist at colleges and there are very few colleges that have dropped mandates for students that are pursing careers in healthcare. For God's sake, work harder to end this. Do better!
Dr Offit, it is simply untrue that the vaccines were ever safe.
Surely you are aware of the independent analysis of the mRNA trial data which shows an SAE rate of 1/800?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X22010283
This scoping review gives a good overview of the sort of harms we're dealing with:https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8800/6/2/17
But even if they were safe, which they're not, it is still unethical to mandate a medication. Anyone who has completed a medical degree knows this, it is in your code of ethics that you cannot administer a vaccine under conditions of coercion. If you have forgotten this, here is an expanded ethical argument against mandated vaccination.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33637609/
At the very least, there is some risk. This cannot be denied. Where there is risk, there must be free, uncoerced choice. Mandates are coercive. Mandates cause harm. There's no way around it. Ergo, they are unethical.
What is the evidence that 2 doses would be recommended in the young and healthy if they already have immunity from natural infection?
This should be spelled out explicitly, because many institutions just mindlessly follow advice like this and impose onerous mandates on their subjects without justification.
My thoughts were the high transmissible nature of the virus and the college/university social environment. Not so much protecting these mostly less vulnerable students, but their professors, family member and others they may be in contact with. As you point out in your article, there are very vulnerable populations where we saw the most hospitalizations and deaths.
Yes but what good is it if evidence is very clear that they never stopped transmission? Pfizer exec even said before the European Union that they didn’t test for that .
They do stop transmission for a couple of months after you get a booster. It blocks even asymptomatic infection for a while, and if you prevent that, you prevent transmission.
It doesn't last more than a few months, though.
We learned with Delta way back in 2021 that the transmission-blocking effects are temporary. Like Dr Offit says, they only last a few months.
Mandating that people get vaccinated for the sake of the community with a product that only works to protect the community for such a short period of time is wildly unethical.
Thank you Dr. Offit for answering the question ( and including a link ) regarding how many doses of the vaccine a child would need if they already had a natural infection. When there is so much confusion on what is the healthiest thing to do, you help to make the answer clear. Your writing is much appreciated.
Mandates only make sense when they can actually stop or prevent a public health crisis. I have some personal experience with vaccines and crisis. My mother was a nurse in a polio hospital. My best friend in college died at age 45 from post polio syndrome. Polio was scary in a way that covid isn’t, because it disproportionally affected children. Wealthy children, at that. It tended not to afflict children in India with paralysis.
I optimistically followed New Zealand, with its 95 percent vaccination rate, but it only postponed the pandemic. Hopefully, the vaccine saved lives.
But the vaccines didn’t stop the virus from spreading and evolving. Regardless of the vaccination rates I first world countries, it continues to evolve in less wealthy countries.
so what now? there are no longer any FDA Covid vaccines available in the US, only the EUA's bivalent. can unapproved vaccines be mandated?