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Congress Should Mandate Vaccines for Health Workers

The COVID 19 pandemic has had tremendous effects on most parts of the world. This pandemic

was one of its own as even the frontline health workers were victims. A good number of health

practitioners suffered the blow and lost their lives in the process of trying to save members of the

public.

In most cases, mandated vaccination rules provide for a small number of acceptable

exceptions, such as medical contraindications. In health care settings, mandatory vaccination

takes many forms, including unvaccinated health professionals staying at home and requiring

unvaccinated health workers to be relocated to lower-risk settings. There have been efforts to

encourage people to get the COVID 19 vaccinations, but such measures have not been as

effective as required. Different people have different views concerning the various types of

COVID 19 vaccines, such as Moderna, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, and Pfizer-BioNTech

(Marfe et al., 8). With the incoming Delta variation, it is evident that the country is in the midst

of a long-term coronavirus battle that will provide no easy triumphs. Due to this, the US

Congress should mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all medical workers.

One of the reasons Congress should mandate COVID 19 vaccinations for all medical

workers is to guard against contracting the virus. Estimates by the World Health Organization

show that between 80 000 and 180 000 health workers have died of COVID between January

2020 and May 2021 (World Health Organization pg. 1). These values demonstrate the adverse
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effects of the lethal virus. The gap left by these deaths will be an irreplaceable one. These are the

individuals whom the entire world depends on to manage the pandemic. This calls for a quick

course of action, and one of the ways to reduce such losses is by mandating vaccinations for

health care workers. COVID 19 vaccines have been tried and tested and, therefore, effective

(Wendler et al., pg. 1277). This means that they can help prevent severe illness and death in

individuals, including health care workers.

In addition, Congress should mandate vaccination for COVID 19 as a preventative

measure to reduce the spread of infections. Those who work in hospitals are frequently exposed

to patients as part of their duties (Ferioli et al., 155). Disease-causing microorganisms may

readily transmit from patients to hospital staff and other patients on the same floor. As a result,

several healthcare workers would be unwell and unable to work, as well as patients who had

developed a new ailment that they did not have when they were in (Ferioli et al., 155). The

closed contact settings that health care workers have with many patients put them at a high risk

of acquiring the virus. When infected patients cough or sneeze in the presence of a doctor or a

nurse, they increase the risk of others contracting the virus under the same health caregiver. With

the available vaccines, health caregivers can deter the spread of the virus from infected patients

to others, acting as the hosts for the spread.

Earlier attempts to advocate vaccination were insufficient to preserve the health and

safety of patients. There have been myths and rumors widely spread throughout the world about

COVID 19 vaccines. Significant concerns that have arisen include claims that the available

vaccines affect the fertility of individuals. Also, some people believe that COVID 19 vaccines

cause variants (Dhillon et al., pg. 4998). This is false as the vaccines do not create any variants

but work to ensure that no new virus variants emerge. There are other myths out there that many
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people blindly believe to be true. Due to this, most people are not willing to get these vaccines.

Some individuals of this kind are searching for reassurance that these vaccines are safe and work

only to perform their intended purposes.

Historically, healthcare workers have served as role models for healthy habits, including

vaccination. All individuals in the healthcare field can model public-health approaches if

they work together. One of the ways they have a good impact is to emphasize the necessity of

obtaining the COVID-19 vaccination and all immunizations (Sokol n.p.). This is an opportunity

for Congress to reassure such individuals that these vaccines are safe. For instance, the new rule

requiring mandatory vaccination for healthcare professionals in France resulted in a tremendous

increase in vaccination rates, increasing from 60% in July to over 99% in October (Sokol n.p.).

Mandating vaccinations for health care workers against COVID 19 would significantly give the

needed reassurance. Health care workers are more informed and educated on health matters and

would not do anything that may jeopardize their health. Congress mandating vaccinations for

health workers would influence many other individuals to take these vaccines. This would serve

to ensure a healthy and safe country for all people.

Is mandatory vaccination an infringement on healthcare professionals' freedom? Yet this

minor violation is justifiable for the sake of preserving others' health. Could compulsion lead to

some healthcare professionals quitting, putting further strain on current staff? Perhaps, but

infecting others or falling ill adds stress and inconvenience. These healthcare personnel might

face disciplinary action or loss of employment even if they are not forced to do so, thus

eliminating them from the medical sector (Yarrow et al., 90). Evaluations of why certain

healthcare workers decline the vaccination have been sought, as well as an investigation of softer
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methods of persuasion. This is logical, but the difficulty is that performing this study will take

months.

Furthermore, there is no assurance that the results will be helpful in any way. They may

have a variety of reasons for refusing the vaccination, as well as ambivalence about continuing in

the profession if persuaded or forced to do so. Such ambiguous outcomes may leave decision-

makers with nothing to go on. It is easy to overlook that waiting for findings has a high human

cost of unnecessary disease and fatalities. Unvaccinated doctors, nurses, and other professionals

are likely to be treating patients right now, placing them at an extremely high risk of catching a

deadly disease in violation of medical ethics (Yarrow et al., 92). Even with inadequate or partial

knowledge, a choice must be taken at some point. That moment has come.

Protecting others is a specific ethical and professional obligation for health care

providers. The goal of the healthcare profession is to improve the well-being and health of

patients and their families, long-term care residents, and the general public (Corburn et al., pg.

350). Using vaccines is one approach to meet this professional goal while also safeguarding the

health of all of these people. Everyone who works in a healthcare setting, including hospitals,

long-term care institutions, and physician offices, must be dedicated to putting patients first. In

the course of their daily duties, health care employees are likely to come into contact with

COVID-19-vulnerable patients, such as the elderly and immunocompromised people (Corburn et

al., pg. 351). Their work environment imposes a specific obligation not to jeopardize the health

of others, and therefore to enforce this, Congress should mandate vaccines for health caregivers.

Finally, mandating immunizations for health care employees is not only ethical, but it is also

legal. Congress has the right to demand taking up vaccines as a condition of employment, as the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and courts agreed before (Niles 488). This
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authority applies to vaccines licensed for emergency purposes and those that the FDA has fully

approved.

Conclusively, mandatory vaccination choices should rely on the most up-to-date

evidence, such as those shown above, and be determined in an open, fair, and non-discriminatory

manner. Workers' freedom to make health-related decisions should, in this view, be weighed less

heavily than the well-being of those who rely on them for care. The purpose of public health with

the help of Congress is to protect the entire population, where the focus must be. Therefore,

Congress should work to mandate vaccines for health workers.

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Works Cited

Corburn, Jason, et al. "Slum health: arresting COVID-19 and improving well-being in urban

informal settlements." Journal of urban health 97.3 (2020): 348-357.

Dhillon, Paraminder, Daniel Altmann, and Victoria Male. "COVID‐19 vaccines: what do we

know so far?." The FEBS Journal 288.17 (2021): 4996-5009.

Ferioli, Martina, et al. "Protecting healthcare workers from SARS-CoV-2 infection: practical

indications." European Respiratory Review 29.155 (2020).

Marfe, Gabriella, Stefania Perna, and Arvind Kumar Shukla. "Effectiveness of COVID-19

vaccines and their challenges." Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 22.6 (2021): 1-

19.

Niles, Zaina A. "The Jab or my Job? COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Healthcare." Missouri

medicine 118.6 (2021): 488.

Sokol, Daniel. "Covid-19 vaccination should be mandatory for healthcare workers." bmj 375

(2021).

Wendler, David, et al. "COVID-19 vaccine trial ethics once we have efficacious

vaccines." Science 370.6522 (2020): 1277-1279.

World Health Organization. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on health and care workers: a

closer look at deaths (No. WHO/HWF/WorkingPaper/2021.1). World Health

Organization.

Yarrow, Emily, and Victoria Pagan. "Reflections on frontline medical work during COVID‐19

and the embodiment of risk." Gender, Work & Organization 28 (2021): 89-100.

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Question

Select ONE of the topics below to use in this assignment.

The US Congress should mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all medical workers.

The US Congress should establish a two-term limit for all US Senators and Congressmen.

The US Congress should limit the financial support for election campaigns to $500 (for

individual contributions) and outlaw support from corporation and lobbyists.

Develop an argument essay, either for or against the selected proposal. The thesis should be

simple, either asserting the proposal or denying the proposal, and the body paragraphs should

give reasons (with proofs) in support of your thesis.