Want to see Foo Fighters? Get the shot

The news that Bridgeport’s newly opened Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater will play host to Foo Fighters, one of the biggest rock bands around, was a big deal for the new venue and for Connecticut’s largest city, which is eternally in need of a boost. The show’s vaccine mandate may be an even bigger sign of things to come.

Foo Fighters is accustomed to playing in front of massive crowds, so word the band was coming to the 5,700-seat venue off I-95 was a sign the amphitheater has truly arrived. It comes, of course, in the midst of a still-ongoing pandemic, which rather than slowing down has shown new staying power in recent weeks as case counts rise and fears resurface.

Most musical acts spent the past year and a half stuck at home, as fear of contagions kept the chance for live acts at bay. Things started to change earlier in the summer as COVID-19 vaccines became widely available.

But not enough people have taken the vaccines to stop the coronavirus spread. The danger remains, though it’s far less for people who have been vaccinated. As a result, Foo Fighters is taking a step sure to become more common in advance of its Bridgeport show by requiring attendees provide proof they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or that they’ve received a negative test within 48 hours of show.

This will likely be unpopular with some potential concert goers, who may consider it an impingement on their freedoms. But as singer Jason Isbell, who is similarly requiring vaccine proof for attendance at his shows, put it, “I'm all for freedom, but I think if you’re dead, you don’t have any freedoms at all.”

COVID remains a public health crisis, but no one is in any kind of mood to return to 2020-style lockdowns. We need to get out in the world, even as we acknowledge the risk from the more easily transmissible Delta variant.

The best way to do that is to get vaccinated, and the best way to get enough people to do that is to enact mandates. Politicians are hesitant to take that step because they don’t want to offend too many of their constituents. Many businesses operate on too narrow a margin to risk putting off large swaths of potential customers, so they, too, have to walk a fine line.

Decades at the top of the music industry put a band like Foo Fighters in a different position. If they want a vaccine mandate, they can get one, and if some people don’t like it, others will gladly take their seats.

This might be what has to happen to get us past COVID. People don’t have to get vaccinated, but if they want to fully take part in public life, they are going to have to make a choice. Maybe a concert isn’t the deciding factor, but if enough such mandates are put in place, something will provide a tipping point to get enough people convinced it’s in their best interests to get the shot.

The alternative is the COVID-drenched status quo. There has to be a better way.

If they want a vaccine mandate, they can get one, and if some people don’t like it, others will gladly take their seats.