Recently California, New York, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington have all required proof of vaccination in public places. This contrasts to the 20 other states, all with Republican governors, that have prohibited proof-of-vaccination requirements. Residents of Montgomery County, who are fully vaccinated, are required to show their vaccination card before entering businesses, shops, restaurants, events, gyms, etc. Fully vaccinated people support this initiative, but the anti-vaccine community has a lot of objections. Many arguments such as “I call my own shots,” “it’s my body,” and “#StopTheMandate” have become popularized.
The MoCo Student spoke to a medical student who expressed how she believes “proof of vaccination requirements should be put in place.” She explained how “the newest variant of the virus has become significantly more transmissible, and, as such, it would be much easier for it to spread in places like these [public settings]. In order to protect both themselves and others around them from the most severe effects of this illness, people should be required to show proof of vaccination in these high-traffic, public settings.” Therefore, she agreed Montgomery County should require proof of vaccination in order to protect everyone and stop the virus from mutating further. She also felt that based on her winter break travels, “the vaccine requirements in some countries are a bit excessive; like too much unnecessary paperwork, but I believe overall having the requirements in place to be vaccinated and masked were incredibly beneficial.”
Public schools in Montgomery County already require proof of vaccinations for many diseases such as measles, chickenpox, etc. These vaccines have been proven safe, and these requirements have been in-place for many years. These types of mandates provide herd immunity to protect young unvaccinated children and older immunocompromised seniors. Based on this precedent, another Montgomery County resident said “why not just add this COVID-19 shot to all the other mandated vaccines, thus creating a safe school environment for staff and students. Without this, we will constantly be battling new variants and different quarantine rules and creating unnecessary learning disruption.”
Even though it may be an inconvenience to show proof of vaccination whenever entering a public place, Montgomery County residents seem to agree with county officials. Getting vaccinated and being required to do so will help stop the spread of new COVID-19 variants.
Written by Ayza Siddiqi of Hallie Wells Middle School
Photo by May Pham of Walter Johnson High School