The Colorado legislature killed a bill in committee last week which would have prevented any private company, public facility, sports venue or pretty much any place where two or more might gather together from requiring proof of a COVID vaccination. At least 47 states have or will be considering similar prohibitions. In nearly every instance the sponsors are Republicans, while the opponents are Democrats. Impassioned pleas on behalf of constitutional rights, privacy rights and personal freedoms emerged on both sides of this debate. But rank stupidity failed to receive the attention it deserves. Americans focus on minority rights, ignoring that democracy is premised on the right of majorities to adopt and enforce laws.

If business proprietors believe an insistence on proof of inoculation will prove healthier for their bottom line by providing an assurance to a majority of their most loyal customers, as well as employees, it is indisputably their right. “No shirt, no shoes, no shot, no service!” Yes, there are civil rights guarantees in the law forbidding discrimination on the basis of immutable characteristics — race, gender, and sexual preference topping the list. However, choosing not to protect oneself against a contagion and then claiming a right to expose others is a violation of our shared rights. Typhoid Mary, an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid, was forcibly quarantined during the final twenty years of her life.

She could have avoided nearly three decades of incarceration if she had agreed to cease working as a cook. Mary Mallon was judged a public health risk as were thousands of Americans confined to leper colonies in Hawaii and across the American south through the middle of the last century. The plight of these victims was tragic, to be sure, but quarantine was the only medically proven safeguard for the remainder of the population. Freedoms are never unlimited. Just as the First Amendment does not sanction crying “Fire!” in a crowded venue when there is no fire, or failing to do so when there is, the constitution offers no right to endanger your family, your co-workers or your neighbors.

Schools, hospitals and the military can and do require vaccinations in order to protect children, patients and soldiers from disease. It’s just common sense. In 1968 the Navy administered 30 shots to me over 16 weeks, most protecting against diseases I’d never heard of. I was grateful. The adage that your freedoms only extend to the tip of my nose can be expanded to spitting, coughing or refusing to wear a mask or seek a vaccination. I don’t want you eating in the restaurants I patronize, or yelling next to me at ball games I attend, or invading pretty much any space I may have to share with you. During the initial COVID outbreak last year, mask enforcement was lax. That only encouraged the scofflaws. I would prefer to see legislation that imposes mandatory 60 or 90 days in jail for the non-compliant.

The fact that vaccinated comedian Bill Maher just tested positive and nearly a quarter of the New York Yankees’ players and traveling staff did as well indicates COVID isn’t done with us, even if we would like to be done with it. There’s little reason to pander to anti-vaxxers and their complaints. 250 million shots have been administered in the U. S. so far this year without a single fatality, and very few adverse reactions. Even among the half dozen individuals who experienced a clotting reaction to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, only two proved serious enough to require hospitalization. Fear of long term consequences that could appear years from now, I’m reminded of John Maynard Keynes observation that, “…in the long run, we all will be dead.” As many as 20% of COVID victims are experiencing symptoms of “long COVID” today — not in some distant future.

If the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection in Washington is deserving of a congressional investigation, as it is, Congress should do the examination of our national response to COVID. We weren’t prepared, we botched our initial response and then mismanaged communication with the public. Our COVID vaccine success can be directly attributed to a decade-long Department of Defense research effort to reduce the vaccine development interval to 60 days rather than a year. In 2019, DARPA conducted an exercise using a live virus and researchers produced an effective shot in 72 days. We live in an age of technological wizardry. Our cellphones connect us with each other and the internet, placing more computing power in our pockets than the original moon lander and its command capsule.

Why do so many Americans say they distrust science and scientists? They’ve done a bang-up job creating tools and technology that make our lives safer and more comfortable. Revisiting frontier Colorado without antibiotics is a dubious and dangerous alternative.