You May be at Risk of Jail, Fine for Refusing COVID Vaccine
The Claim
Individual US states are legally authorized to impose criminal penalties on individuals who refuse a mandatory COVID vaccination.
News posted on
Emerging story
Since the COVID crisis began, many have speculated as to what circumstances, if any, could trigger an end to the crisis. Despite many claiming that the crisis will never end, one popular solution is the creation of a COVD vaccine which can be administered and end the threat of the virus. However, at least 1/5 of a representative sample of Americans have been polled who outright refuse to take such a vaccine. This information has prompted multiple mainstream outlets to speculate that the US government has the right to force every American to take the vaccine, a claim which has been widely circulated on social media.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation into this claim reveals it to be true. According to Dov Fox, a law professor and the director of the Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics at the University of San Diego,
“Could people who refuse to roll up their sleeves get banned from stores or lose their jobs? The short answer is yes… ‘States can compel vaccinations in more or less intrusive ways,’ Fox said in an interview. ‘They can limit access to schools or services or jobs if people don’t get vaccinated. They could force them to pay a fine or even lock them up in jail.’… The legal precedent dates back to 1905. In a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the court ruled Massachusetts had the authority to fine people who refused vaccinations for smallpox.”
Other legal experts, including the New York State Bar, have called for government-mandated vaccines.
As should be obvious, such tactics present as extremely problematic if 1/5 of Americans are going to be jailed, fined, or lose their jobs, especially when you take into account that levels of trust of the federal government overriding parental approval and making healthcare decisions for one’s children no doubt starkly divide Americans along political lines. As Tyson of twitter observes, “this may be the catalyst [for] Civil War 2.0.” Indeed, this seems like a candidate issue to finally explode a powder keg of political tension, exacerbated by quarantine, that has been building in this country for five to ten to 60 years.
