Being con on mandates and vaccine passports is not the same thing as being con on vaccines. It takes into account the downside of mandates— loss of liberty— and deals sympathetically rather than contemptuously with those who for reasons of their own do not want to get vaccinated. After all, “Give me liberty or give me death” is mainstream enough to be the state motto of New Hampshire. Death is not the very worst fate. Tyranny is worse. That’s why people are willing to die to defeat tyrannical regimes. And since every ruler tends toward tyrant, it is best to nip the gradual transformation in the bud. Allowing some people to die by Covid by their own anti-vaccine choice is tragic, but better than empowering the government to force them to get vaccinated against their will.
Well, the choice is between liberty and death. The downside of letting people be unvaccinated, unmasked, crowded together is sickness, hospitalization, and death. What's worse about the downside is that the unvaccinated, unmasked, and crowding together folks can cause others to get sick, be hospitalized, and die.
A: No it isn't. My wife and most of my kids got Covid, and it amounted to the sniffles, not death. They also all got vaccinated afterward, at least those who were old enough. We weren't particularly concerned about getting Covid, not being of the age or having any of the comorbidities that almost entirely determine the real health risk. And we weren't particularly bothered about getting the vaccine, not having any particular distrust of or problem with doing so. It is a choice between a slightly reduced risk of death and slightly (depending on your views) impinged liberty. So the real issue is in risk tolerance and mandate tolerance.
B: If it were a clear cut choice of loss of liberty or loss of life, only a coward would choose the latter. If I can die in way that ensures others remain free, that is preferable to living at the expense of their freedom. Of course, real life situations are rarely if ever so clear cut, but the principle is key-- liberty is at least as important as life, at least in the political sphere. Otherwise there could not even in the abstract be a cause worth dying for. In the theological sphere, neither the loss of liberty nor the loss of life is any impediment to God.
C: Since for most people the risk of Covid is very small even if they get it, and for most people getting the vaccine is no big deal, the real debate is about those who are at extreme risk (say, due to advanced age or a severely compromised immune system) and those who have a genuine moral or psychological aversion to getting this vaccine, be it do to lack of trust in the government, a belief that the vaccine befouls the sacred vessel of their body, or whatever. Encouraging people to get vaccinated and helping them overcome their objections honors both groups of people. Mandating that everyone get vaccinated completely disdains the latter group. It is like drafting pacifists to serve in the infantry because the nation needs defending.
