Democracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Stop pleading with anti-vaxxers and start mandating vaccinations

Columnist|
July 19, 2021 at 2:50 p.m. EDT
An anti-vaccine rally protester dressed up as President Biden holds a sign outside of Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston on June 26. (Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images)

It’s time to get serious about coronavirus vaccinations. Stop pleading and start mandating.

For the past six months, President Biden, joined by every public health authority in the land, has been begging Americans to get vaccinated. The “pretty, please” approach isn’t working. According to The Post’s covid-19 tracker, in the past week, daily reported covid-19 cases rose 66 percent, covid-related hospitalizations rose 28 percent, and daily reported covid-19 deaths rose 20 percent. With the delta variant spreading across the country, every single state has seen an increase in cases over the past seven days.