On May 15, 2020, President Donald J. Trump activated Operation Warp Speed (OWS) to develop “substantial quantities of a safe and effective vaccine available for Americans by January 2021” to combat the COVID-19 virus, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. 

OWS was quicker than anyone could have hoped as the first doses of the vaccine were rolled out by Pfizer on Dec. 14, only three days after the U.S Food and Drug Administration granted the two-shot vaccine an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Moderna’s vaccine, which is also a two-shot deal, was approved with a EUA on Dec. 18.

The overall speed of this vaccine production and rollout process is concerning to some, as before COVID-19, the fastest vaccine to ever be developed and approved was for mumps. This vaccine took four years to develop from 1964-1967 before it was approved and distributed to the public, according to the Immunization Action Collection.

Since the two vaccines were approved for use, more than 109 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the country, along with 21 percent of the total population receiving at least one dose according to the San Joaquin COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker.

Now the question being raised by individuals across the country and around the world is should this vaccine, which the Biden administration projects will be made available to nearly everyone by May 1, be made mandatory by governments?

My short answer is no — The COVID-19 vaccines shouldn’t be made mandatory.

Once you start getting into the area of forcing an individual to inject a liquid vaccination into their bloodstream, you are violating a person’s bodily autonomy.

This is the freedom of choosing what happens with your body which involves what you inject into your body.

Forcing a person to take a vaccine that they could potentially be uncomfortable with is crossing these bodily autonomy boundaries, and starts to set a potential authoritarian precedent from the government.

It’s understandable that people want to slow the spread of this virus and return to a sense of normal as quickly as we can, which could potentially be aided if everyone got vaccinated when their turn arrives. 

However, we should never infringe on others’ freedoms and liberties to make decisions for themselves, as every human has their God given rights to refuse a vaccine by choice.

There is a great hesitancy from the majority of the American people with the vaccine, as 49 percent of people have said no already or are still unsure according to a survey by CBS News Poll.

Of this 49 percent who are unsure so far, 90 percent are worried about the potential side effects with the vaccine according to the Pew Research Center Survey. 

While some of the minor side effects have been named such as fever, headache and swelling, there have been other reported cases of severe allergic reactions to the vaccine that result in hives, swelling of the face, and even severe dizziness and fainting. 

New side effects will continue to surface as more people continue to get vaccinated, which also worries some as new news could potentially be suppressed by mainstream media from the public to prevent growing vaccination hesitance.

I think the biggest thing that worries people is the unknown factor with this virus and its vaccine. As mentioned this vaccine was developed and approved in record speed, which creates an uneasy feeling from the public to line up right away for their shot. There is very limited research and data on the long term effects and efficiency from these vaccines, that some don’t want to be in that first data test group of vaccinators. 

If the government doesn’t require citizens to get flu shots every year, which have been around since the 1940s, why would they require citizens to get a COVID shot when they haven’t even been made public for a year?