‘The mask and vaccine mandate debate keeps heating up, and while discussion of the issues has value, it needs to be a discussion of both sides — something increasingly missing these days,’ we argue in today’s editorial.
                                 File photo

‘The mask and vaccine mandate debate keeps heating up, and while discussion of the issues has value, it needs to be a discussion of both sides — something increasingly missing these days,’ we argue in today’s editorial.

File photo

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The mask and vaccine mandate debate keeps heating up, and while discussion of the issues has value, it needs to be a discussion of both sides — something increasingly missing these days.

There is one aspect of the masked arguments that stands pretty strong and has a clear path to resolution: Is the state school mask mandate legal? During an event held at Lake-Lehman School District stadium, Attorney Eric Winter made his persuasive arguments that it is not. Court challenges likely will lead to a firm resolution that everyone should be prepared to accept.

The insistence that most masks are ineffective holds much less clout when all studies — rather than just those that support one side or another — are closely scrutinized. While there are studies that suggest reusable cloth masks don’t work well, there are convincing studies that show they help reduce the transmission of COVID-19, including several recent, real-world reviews of COVID-19 transmissions in schools.

We encourage anti-maskers to look for studies that support mask effectiveness (and for pro-maskers to look at the evidence on the other side). One place to start: A meta-review of 49 studies, reported at kxan.com. There’s also a study by Duke University researchers, with info at today.duke.edu and abcsciencecollaborative.org. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released several studies showing masks reduce transmission, cdc.gov.

A second argument by the mask-optional side does not stand up to reality: That masking should be a personal choice. We’d agree if we knew that only the person not wearing a mask can be impacted by the decision. But you don’t breath “personal air” when among other people. Please, make your anti-mask arguments on other grounds.

Mandated vaccines are a different beast. With well over 400 million doses administered in the United State, serious side effects remain amazingly negligible while the protection seems clearly proven. Short term, the vaccines have been safe and effective. We have no real evidence on long-term safety, so hesitancy of long-term consequences is easier to justify. You can’t readily prove a negative.

The bigger question is becoming whether vaccines can be mandated, and by whom. We believe private companies have every right to mandate vaccination, and that efforts in some states — most recently Texas — to ban such private mandates are wrong-headed. They also run counter to the core belief usually espoused by the Republicans issuing such non-mandate edicts: Let private businesses make their own decisions.

The looming federal mandate to make larger businesses require vaccines, and the fear of a school vaccine mandate, will ultimately be settled in the courts. But history offers precedence.

In 1777 George Washington required immunization against smallpox among his troops when the disease killed about a third of those infected. This vaccine “mandate” arguably avoided a colonial loss in the Revolutionary War. Mandatory vaccinations for U.S. military during World War II may also have been important in that victory. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld mandated vaccinations in 1905 and again in 1922. Mandated vaccines have helped reduce or wipe out cases of typhoid, yellow fever, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and chickenpox.

Challenging government mandates is perfectly acceptable. It’s how democracy should work. But it should not be done in an historic vacuum. Masks, vaccines and vaccine mandates have a long, global record, and we ignore the past at our own peril.

— Times Leader