The Delta Variant
Calls for a Strong Push on Covid Shots
It’s getting more dangerous
to let the unvaccinated return to normal life with everyone else.
By Editorial Board
June 18, 2021, 5:30 AM EDT
Vaccine passports are needed more than ever.
The rise of the dangerous delta variant of the coronavirus
gives new urgency to the effort to get people vaccinated. Delta has been
spreading phenomenally fast. It’s already the dominant strain in India, the
U.K. and Singapore, and it has a foothold in more than 80 countries. While it
accounts for only about 10% of U.S. cases of Covid-19 so far, that share is
expected to balloon.
There’s evidence, too, that the variant may cause more severe disease. Data from the U.K. suggest
people who contract this strain are twice as likely to be hospitalized
as those who caught a previous form of the coronavirus.
The saving grace is that vaccines keep people safe. Those who’ve had two doses of the
Pfizer shot, for instance, are 88%
protected from the delta variant. But those who have had just the first
dose are only 33% protected, and of course the unvaccinated are
utterly vulnerable. No doubt, delta will flourish in places where most people
haven’t gotten their shots.
This makes it more
urgent than ever to expand vaccination. So far, public-health leaders and
many business owners have tried coaxing — patiently explaining the benefits of
vaccination, giving away burgers and doughnuts, holding big prize lotteries,
and sending mobile vaccination units to underserved neighborhoods. Thanks in
part to these efforts, 65% of American adults have now had at least one shot. But
that share needs to grow. It’s thought that at least 70% of the population
needs to be fully vaccinated to keep infection rates down without other
social restrictions. At this point, stronger measures are needed.
Major sports leagues
are right, for example, to demand proof of vaccination from people who
attend games — and to make the unvaccinated be tested and sit in special
sections. Universities should
also make sure students and professors have their shots.
Companies should
begin to exercise their authority to require employees to be vaccinated before
entering the workplace, as some have already said they’ll do. This stands
to reason: Unvaccinated people pose a danger to other unvaccinated people.
Rather than put employees at risk, companies should restrict the office to
those who are protected. Hospitals and
other health-care centers have a special responsibility to make sure
their workers are vaccinated.
Regrettably, several states have actively hampered such
efforts. A new law in Texas goes so
far as to deny state contracts to businesses that demand their customers be
inoculated and threatens to yank operating permits. In Florida, where state law prohibits
schools, businesses and government agencies from demanding proof of Covid
vaccination, Governor Ron DeSantis has refused to grant an exemption even to
cruise ship operators, who can hardly assure passengers that they’re safe
without requiring vaccines. Such stubbornness is foolish and dangerous — all
the more so with the delta variant on the rise.
States should move in the opposite direction, by issuing
secure vaccine passports and requiring that sports arenas, concert halls and
other public venues maintain special rules and restrictions for the
unvaccinated. Although Covid infections in the U.S. are falling to the point
where they seem nearly under control, the vaccination rate isn’t as high as it
needs to be. There’re plenty of shots on hand; now people need greater reason
to get them.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story:
The Editors at davidshipley@bloomberg.net
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