The United States Should Consider Compulsory SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination

As we face this unprecedented epidemic, researchers are racing to develop a cure and find ways to prevent more infections in the future. Yet, with so much uncertainty about the future of this virus (i.e. will we experience another influx of cases? Will it disappear over the summer and return come autumn?), the current absence of an effective therapy,[i] and limited research on natural immunity to the disease through direct exposure,[ii] it seems the only certainty is that a vaccine could be a solution. Several laboratories across a multitude of countries have begun to develop a vaccine[iii] for SARS-CoV-2 with anticipated public arrival as early as late 2020. However, a vaccine is not effective at the population level if only a few decide to receive it. Herd immunity (or “herd protection”) is the phenomenon that occurs when a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to a virus (through natural exposure or vaccination). This decreases the amount and/or duration of pathogen shedding, thereby reducing the spread of a pathogen to susceptible individuals.[iv] Herd immunity is obtained most easily and safely through widespread vaccination, and it is essential to protecting the most vulnerable. This includes individuals of lower socioeconomic status who are more likely to have high-risk comorbidities, the immunocompromised, the elderly, and those with disabilities. The question then arises: should we consider mandating compulsory vaccinations for SARS-CoV-2? Is this the only way to ensure the virus does not return (at least not in a way that will overwhelm our medical system and disproportionately harm the most vulnerable)? The prospect of compulsory vaccinations has an arduous history in the United States dating back to the 1905 court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts when, in the face of the smallpox epidemic, Henning Jacobson refused vaccination, arguing that the law requiring all adults vaccinate or pay a fine was an infringement on his autonomy and “an assault on his person”[v] (he was fined five dollars after ...