Coercion is not the way to encourage COVID vaccinations in WA state| Guest Opinion

We’ve gotten our COVID-19 vaccination, and encourage people to consider getting theirs.

We both have a background in business, and can understand why an employer might prefer for its employees to be fully vaccinated.

Although we’re pro-vaccine, we believe people should be free to decide whether the vaccine is right for them. Employers and workers also should be free to decide if requiring vaccines is good company policy. Unfortunately, state government is now infringing on those freedoms.

For several months, the state seemed content to focus on providing access to the vaccine. But in mid-May, we saw a change in the federal guidance on wearing masks and distancing, and the state followed suit. Suddenly, Washington employers had more control over their own safety standards than they’d had in over a year.

It didn’t last long. Barely a week later, on May 21, the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) issued new guidance that puts employers in the position of becoming the “vaccine police.”

Don’t want to wear a face covering or keep distanced while you’re inside that restaurant or retail shop? No problem, according to the guidance, if you’re a customer. Saying you’re fully vaccinated is enough. If you’re a worker, no such luck. Government isn’t extending the honor system to employees. You’re automatically suspect, so either mask up and stay distanced or prove to the boss that you’re fully vaccinated.

The state doesn’t order private-sector employees to submit to workplace drug tests, or follow a certain dress code. But telling workers they must follow certain rules unless they’re fully vaccinated – that sounds like coercion.

The guidance from Olympia also requires employers to be able to verify the vaccination status of their employees. The regulators suggest keeping a log or marking employee badges. Just like that, there’s an official endorsement of segregation based on what should be a respected personal choice. Can vaccine shaming be far behind?

During the 2021 legislative session, Republicans introduced legislation to prevent discrimination based on vaccination status in places of public accommodation. Although leaders of the Democrat majority didn’t support our proposal, they at least recognized it would be a mistake to go the other direction and pursue a vaccine-passport policy.

The L&I guidance looks like a proxy for requiring a workplace-centered vaccine passport. It comes off as another example of the same distrust and mismanagement seen from the executive branch for most of the past year – and a new way for government to control people’s lives.

Today, the vaccination rates for Washington residents 65 and over are nearing 80 percent. That’s enormously significant, considering how state government utterly failed to protect elderly and long-term care residents early in the pandemic. More than 52 percent of Washington residents 16 years and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Those numbers were achieved without the new “vaccine police” guidance.

A Tri-City Herald editorial recently noted, correctly, that vaccine hesitancy is still an obstacle, as is a distrust of state government. Those concerns won’t be overcome by more emergency proclamations that leave the door open to coercion and segregation.

The governor has ruled under emergency powers for more than 460 days. There is no end in sight. The better path is to end the state of emergency, transfer control of our state’s pandemic response to local public-health officials, and lead by example and education in a way that encourages vaccinations while respecting individual choice.

This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 1:28 PM.