Usually, when people are threatened, they attempt to remove themselves from the danger. I used to believe that this trait is hardwired in us. I guess I was wrong. Individuals face death, horrendous sickness and, if they survive, life-time illness should they contract Covid-19. Of course, thanks to science, vaccines are now available to prevent people from being stricken with Covid. So, one would imagine, Americans, and almost everyone else, are eager to secure the vaccine. That’s how it went with the Salk/Sabine vaccines to prevent polio, and so many others. In fact, in most cases, by school-age individuals are inoculated by law with a laundry-list of vaccines. Failure to have your child protected, in a majority of school-districts, results in an inability to attend school.

Given the above information, why are so many ignoring science and refusing to obtain vaccines, potentially resulting in their own, and/or their loved ones, death or illness? Self-preservation, compassion for others, and selflessness, usually enter into the decision-making behind securing shots. Yet, millions in this country who are eligible for the Covid vaccine are both passively and forcefully resisting securing vaccines. Yes, there exists a vast, self-enriching media stream filled with promoters, buffoons, and phonies citing false data and distorting truths about the vaccine. And people, unfortunately, listen to these shysters. But one expects, amongst an educated American public, the opposite reaction. Yet, for millions, that is not what is happening.

As a Political Scientist, I was often asked why people voted for Trump. Greed, racism and ignorance were the reasons I cited. Only the latter—ignorance—seems to me relevant as a primary cause for the failure of so many to be vaccinated. Yes, some people are lazy, some are truly afraid of injections, and a small number are medically ineligible. But, millions don’t fit any of these categories. They are, to put it simply, unintelligent, dunces. Obviously, they lack common sense. In many cases, there are outside factors involved. For example, some medical professionals, as well as publicity seeking opportunists like Robert Kennedy Jr., are identifiable charlatans. Some use medical degrees, others play on their “celebrity,” as they seek to persuade people to make obscene, sometimes fatal, choices. There are even those who rely upon family and/or friends for their deadly advice. And, often the political and media persona who rely on vaccine-skeptic notoriety, do so to advance their careers.

Calling vaccine-deniers dunces is almost a joke, implying a level of feeling sorry for them they don’t deserve. Rather, with so many needlessly dying because of their stupidity, the time has come for national mandates along the lines of those recently presented by President Biden. Travel/work restrictions, quarantines, containment, and public shaming are all available tools to impose on the unvaccinated.

Our founding documents entitle the American people to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Those who deny us these rights should be restrained. To curb these willful, disease spreaders should be lawful and is only common sense.