Where is that nanny state when Americans really need it?
Sometimes government must be willing to play bad cop. Now — when the United States desperately needs more and stricter coronavirus vaccination requirements — is one of those times.
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are spiking. Nearly a fifth of Americans say they’re unlikely to ever get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The risk that more contagious variants will develop grows each day. In this environment, public officials and employers have offered tons of incentives to entice the vaccine-resistant to get shots. Such carrots don’t seem to be working, though.
Some companies have announced what appear to be sticks: requirements for workers (and sometimes customers) to get the shot or get the boot. But these moves also seem unlikely to change much behavior. Companies are choosing vaccination policies that reflect the existing preferences of their workforces — or alternatively, avoiding decisions on mandates entirely — because managers don’t want to alienate anyone. After all, workers are scarce, consumers are mercurial, and vaccines remain polarizing.
That’s why we need government to step in. Public officials must be willing to make unpopular, sometimes controversial decisions that take the heat off private industry and protect the public welfare. That is: We need government to be the fall guy.
Managers, nursinghome administrators, school leaders and others merely trying to keep workplaces safe need to be able to plausibly tell anti-vaxxers: “Shucks, if it were up to me, you could take whatever risks you want. Out of my hands though! Big Bad Government says you must be vaccinated to [fill in the blank].”
This is virtually the same situation we were in a year ago when private industry was weighing other kinds of safety measures.
Last year, airline executives begged the Trump administration to issue an in-flight mask mandate. Airlines knew mask requirements were necessary. They also knew a unilaterally implemented requirement would make some customers angry. The Trump administration wouldn’t oblige, but President Joe Biden did. Retailers felt similarly hung out to dry. The Retail Industry Leaders Association pleaded in July 2020 for “every governor to require consumers who are not (encumbered) by a medical condition to wear masks when shopping or in public places.”
In general, government intervention is most justifiable when inaction would harm innocent bystanders. Think: polluting cars, secondhand smoke, infectious diseases. When it comes to vaccination mandates, though, few officials are willing to stick their necks out.
And in a sense, who can blame them? There’s an entire political party eager to disingenuously exploit such decisions as evidence of “Big Government” trampling on “freedoms.” If some official is willing to fall on their sword to protect public health, a nearby right-wing demagogue will gladly drive the blade deeper.
In some states, Republicans hoping to raise their national profile are even going a step further by preemptively tying the hands of local officials and private-sector executives who are willing to make difficult decisions to safeguard the public.
As infections rise, these decisions look increasingly foolish. Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently admitted that he regretted signing a law blocking school districts from requiring masks; he expressed gratitude that a judge had bailed him out.
“Thank goodness,” Hutchinson said Sunday, that “the court stepped in and held that as unconstitutional.”
Businesses passing the buck to politicians; politicians passing the buck to judges. Where’s that “nanny state” when you need it?