Discussion of SCOTUS decision starts at 1:45 goes to 4:30

When I see a politician come out with a statement on the current pandemic that makes it tougher to end the pandemic I react with a ‘WTF are they thinking?’ When that person is a doctor, I am even more astounded.

Maybe I am seeing things cockeyed since I would like to think that those who are in public service would make things like public health a high priority. In the case of Covid, we know and have known for a long time that the very best way to bring the pandemic to and end is to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate! Along with that we need to distance and wear masks. Doing anything less greatly increases transmission.

That is why I was so astounded last Monday when I got Miller-Meeks most recent little weekly news advert in my email. Her first blurb was to praise SCOTUS for knocking down the vaccination mandate. This from a doctor who by her profession should be calling for mitigation factors in stemming the pandemic:

A Win For Iowa’s Businesses and Families

This week, the United States Supreme Court ruled to block the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses.

The decision from the Supreme Court is a win for businesses and workers across this country. The Court has acknowledged that this vaccine mandate is a massive overreach by the Biden Administration. I encourage everyone to get vaccinated, but I do not believe in overreaching federal mandates.

Main Street is already facing the real-world effects of a labor shortage, a mismanaged supply chain, and inflation rates that we have not seen in decades. Every American should be able to decide if a vaccine is right for them, just like I did.

Let’s work to keep businesses open and Americans employed, not shuttered, jobless, and hopeless.

A pile of manure from the pig pen. Let’s break this down.

To begin with we can start with the Preamble to the Constitution which states:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

So there in the preamble is what many believe is the promise to promote public health. 

Even if that were ignored, Miller-Meeks statement is lacking credibility. She is claiming that vaccinating workers within a business will cause worker shortages. Who believes that? Vaccinating workers helps to keep them on the job by giving them protection from getting sick. Or if they do get sick, they do not get as sick and generally return to work quicker and in better shape than those who are not vaccinated.

Also vaccinated employees are less likely to infect other employees since they are less likely to get infected. Also, if vaccinated employees do get the virus, their symptoms are often milder and therefore they are less likely to end up in the hospital. Unvaccinated are more likely to end up in the hospital which costs the businesses money in higher insurance costs and out of pocket expenses. 

Don’t forget that the unvaccinated are more likely to die. Dead employees seldom return to work. Replacing them is costly and time consuming. One of the major reasons we have a labor shortage is because of excess deaths over the past two years. Along with possible dead employees, many eligible workers refuse to work in a place where their chance of getting a deadly infection is high because other employees refuse to get vaccinated.

Mandatory vaccines would help solve the problem of labor refusing to return to the work force. The supply chain problems are clearing up, at least according to such people as the CEO of Walmart. But one of the major reason for the supply chin problem was the lack of folks to do certain jobs. These folks were leaving their jobs to avoid getting infected by Covid. Mandatory vaccination would help alleviate this problem.

Inflation is a global problem. While related to Covid, it is not a problem caused by the Biden Administration. I would like to think our congress member understood such things. Apparently she can’t see beyond the lies she is told.

As a consumer, the US government should have the power as we all do to expect certain levels of quality and safety from those they buy from. I do. I will bet Miller-Meeks does also. I know when the government buys a bauble from your company they inspect where that bauble is made and demand certain specifications for that bauble. Demanding safety in the workplace from a supplier is part of the package. 

There are many places I currently refuse to shop because they do not meet my Covid standards. Were vaccinations mandatory as a consumer I would be more open to doing more purchasing. We most certainly do not want to get Covid.

So I was shocked by Miller-Meeks statement. As she is a doctor I am surprised she approves of a path that most certainly will allow for greater transmission. As one who claims to want the economy to open up more, I am surprised that she would evaluate vaccinating more of the public by mandate and not realize that as long as there is a large segment of the society that is unvaccinated it will act as a huge drag on the economy.

Or maybe that is what she wants. Either way choosing a path that keeps the unvaccinated numbers high is a very bad choice for the country. 

One thing that Republicans have hated for decades is regulation. Perhaps the point is to praise SCOTUS limiting some OSHA power while hiding it in the “freedumbs” concept of non-vaccinations that undermines public health. Here is hoping someone asks about this on the campaign trail.