Arthur Caplan, NYU professor of Bioethics, was a guest on CNN and said that it was time to shame unvaccinated Americans. He suggested that society should “penalize them” in a variety of ways, including increased hospital bills and higher insurance premiums.
“In general, you will be fine if your immunity is up to par, even if it does get you infected. This is going to be fine. The unvaccinated will be the ones most affected, so why should anyone who has been boosted bother to make the unvaccinated safer?” John Berman of CNN asked.
“I want us all to act together as a community. “I want us to work together as a team. We are fighting a war, and we need everyone on the deck. I don’t want them to be rejected for not doing the right thing. They will be punished. They will be shamed. They’ll be shamed,” Caplan said, before describing his desire to “penalize” Americans who aren’t vaccinated and use coercive tactics in order to get them to get the shot.
They have to change. We won’t win this war. If we don’t encourage more people to do the right things, we’ll be talking about COVID next year. We can’t just write them off. They can be penalized more. You can be told that you will have to pay more for your hospital bills. If you’re not vaccinated, it’s impossible to get affordable life or disability insurance. These companies shouldn’t treat us as equals when it comes to the financial burden that this disease places on our finances.
Berman responded by criticizing unvaccinated people, stating, “It is unvaccinated who don’t wear masks. The unvaccinated are not social distancing. The unvaccinated go to indoor events that are crowded.
He said, “So there’s this strange irony where those who are being behaved are the ones being told 10 times more to behave.”
Biden’s administration also aims to penalize Americans who are not vaccinated. This amounts to a work-tax in the OSHA emergency temporary standard (ETS rule) that penalized unvaccinated Americans. This puts the employee solely responsible for frequent testing costs.