, Columnist
Should We Be Forced to Get Covid Vaccines? It's Complicated
Yes, there is a moral and legal case for mandating inoculation, but social psychology suggests that may not always be wise.
Forced or voluntary?
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images
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The dilemma is almost as old as vaccines: Can the state coerce citizens to get jabbed in the interests of public health? What about other institutions, such as schools, universities or employers? And if they can mandate shots, should they?
Even with the more familiar vaccines against smallpox, measles, whooping cough and the like, these questions have never been answered definitively in most countries. That haunts us now that we’re fighting a coronavirus pandemic and need to make urgent decisions.