With the availability of three different COVID vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and the since-paused Johnson & Johnson) and a fourth (AstraZeneca) undergoing further tests before being approved by the FDA, the number of Americans being vaccinated is increasing exponentially. In fact, the latest reports show vaccinations mounting by more than 3 million people per day. To date, more than 122 million U.S. residents have received at least one dose and more than 68 million have been fully vaccinated.
Here is the rub…
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Every one of those people is walking around with a government-issued 4-by-3-inch vaccination card in his or her wallet or safely secured at home. How that card will – or will not – be used in the future is the $64,000 question (that’s a 1950s TV quiz show reference for you Millennials and Centennials).
On the conservative side, the card will simply reassure its holders that they are safe to resume everyday life.
Until, that is, Dr. Doomsday – otherwise known as Anthony “the Fearmonger” Fauci – makes another of his nauseatingly self-important and incendiary comments. For now, the darling of the Washington establishment and the mainstream media insists that fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks (the more the better), to avoid crowds and unvaccinated family members, and to socially distance at all times.
In other words, to keep doing the things that failed to curb the virus’s spread in the first place… but which effectively stopped the economy in its tracks.
Proud cardholders are free to show off their “Golden Ticket” as gaily as Charlie Buckett did in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. They can also voluntarily share their relief and good fortune with their friends, relatives, and neighbors. However, protected by HIPAA laws, only the CDC and their family physician should otherwise be made aware.
Enter the liberal viewpoint, ironically, from Stage Left…
Progressives would prefer to elevate the COVID vaccination cards to almost mythical status. Forget about your Platinum-level credit cards. If the liberal loonies have their way, the CDC card will become the new status symbol that will open any door. Far more problematic, however, is the fact that people not possessing a so-called “vaccine passport” may find those same doors slamming shut in their faces.
Nothing – and I mean nothing – is more un-American and unconstitutional than the concept of a vaccine passport.
The First Amendment guarantees American citizens the right to freely assemble, to freely express themselves, and to freely exercise their religious beliefs. And yet, all three of those constitutional protections are being openly undermined by the Progressives and their friends in the Biden administration. Look no further than the limits imposed on church attendance during the pandemic, the insipid Facebook “independent” factcheckers who counter and often cancel every COVID-related post, and the push to deny public access and interstate travel to people opposed to vaccines derived from the cell lines of aborted fetuses.
Not content to violate just one aspect of the Bill of Rights, big government advocates also want to strip Americans of their right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment. They have no problem “finding” a constitutional right to murder their unborn child in that clause, but fully embrace a person’s medical records being made public via the vaccine passport… HIPAA laws be damned.
In fact, New York State has already introduced an “Excelsior Pass” that is basically a QR code used as proof of either full vaccination or a recent negative test. Without it, good luck getting into theaters, sporting events, and other public venues.
If “We, the People of the United States” don’t stand up and oppose these draconian measures, then Benjamin Franklin’s warning will be prophetic indeed. “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety,” he said.
I don’t know about you, but I stand with Ben!
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Dale Glading is an ordained minister and former N.J. Republican candidate for Congress.
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