Feds may not mandate a coronavirus vaccine, but states, schools and employers can
The multiplicity of questions surrounding the deployment of an effective coronavirus vaccine include its aggressive development timeline, who’ll get access first, how to encourage people to take it, and whether it’ll work at all.
Still, there’s one key question that remains unanswered: Can governments — which are incurring considerable expenses to accelerate the development of a successful vaccine — forcibly inoculate their citizens?
That question was partly answered last week by Virginia, where the state’s top health official vowed to make a COVID-19 vaccination mandatory once a candidate was widely available. His stance underscored a theme several health experts emphasized: There are several (entirely legal) avenues by which the public can be compelled to take a COVID-19 cure, whether they want to or not.