Current impacts from the COVID-19 virus are alarming. Cases are skyrocketing. The unvaccinated are not only killing themselves, they are killing kids, especially those too young to be vaccinated.
The personal freedom to commit such mayhem is not a constitutional right. Vaccinations have been required for kids to attend school for decades. The times call for widespread vaccination mandates in both the private and public sectors.
We need to call on our presumed progressive political leaders — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Gov. Jay Inslee, especially — to mandate vaccinations for public employees, now. Such action could also give cover for more businesses to join firms such as Microsoft, Google and Tyson Foods in exhibiting the needed leadership to mandate vaccinations.
Public-health science must trump corporate cautiousness, political paralysis and personal irresponsibility in order to stop the killing.
Bruce Amundson, M.D., Shoreline