“Why aren’t near-universal mandates ‘reasonable?’ Well, young people almost never become seriously ill from COVID — although a very few certainly do. But there is also some evidence of a very slight — but potentially serious — risk from the vaccines for the young. If we care about freedom, surely, for the young, vaccination may be the preferred — but should not be the mandatory — course…

“There is also significant evidence that people who recovered from COVID already have significant natural resistance to the disease. That being so, is it reasonable to force people with antibodies to involuntarily inject substances into their bodies, particularly since there is a very slight potential for serious bodily injury or death from the vaccine? No…

“Finally, the people most at risk of serious disease are the unvaccinated. People who choose to go unprotected are risking mostly themselves. Allowing them to face that risk is more reasonable than violating their personal autonomy.”
Wesley J. Smith, National Review

“The establishment’s response to [vaccine] resistance is to tighten the screws with mandates and vaccine passports, combined with condescending assurances about the vaccines’ safety. But if officials want people to take those assurances seriously, they should pass laws that will make people whole in the (very rare) cases they’re injured by the vaccines…

“As several people I know have said, the folks pushing the vaccines won’t be there for them if they have a bad experience, which can, as with any vaccine, lead to death or lifelong disability. Those folks will just tut-tut and assure us that such side effects are very rare. Well, the rareness of side effects is cold comfort for those few who suffer them. You know what could give comfort? Money…

“The ordinary vaccine-compensation program caps damages at $250,000 for death and disability. A COVID fund might award sums of $1 million for death or disability, plus lost income and medical expenses; a million is a round number that should reassure people. The vaccines are generally safe, so the expenses involved will be low, especially by comparison with today’s breakneck federal spending. Mandates and hectoring will only render the already-suspicious even more so. The far better route is a well-tailored incentive scheme that seeks to assuage the hesitant — without insulting their intelligence.”
Glenn H. Reynolds, New York Post

“A government mandate should be a last resort, not a first. Private companies are already setting their own standards for workers and customers, giving people a choice and an incentive to get vaccinated. There’s less justification for government coercion now than months ago with the pandemic having subsided and the city’s hospitals no longer facing the threat of being overwhelmed by Covid-19 cases.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal

“More than 47% of white New Yorkers are vaccinated, according to Bloomberg’s tracker, compared to 33% of black New Yorkers and just under 45% of Hispanics in the city. That means that black New Yorkers will be barred from public accommodations at a far higher rate than will white New Yorkers. This is kind of an awkward policy. Nobody could honestly suggest that de Blasio is trying to discriminate against black people with his vaccine passport rule. But according to the racial politics that the Left and the media are trying to cram down the nation's collective throat, ‘Intentions in racism don’t matter. Impact does.’”
Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner