{"id":32619,"date":"2021-05-29T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=32619"},"modified":"2021-05-29T11:24:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T15:24:49","slug":"government-says-employers-can-require-experimental-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/29\/government-says-employers-can-require-experimental-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Government says employers can require experimental vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“U.S. agency says employers can mandate COVID-19 vaccination”<\/a> (Reuters):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. companies can mandate that employees in a workplace must be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said on Friday.<\/p>

The EEOC, in a statement posted on its website explaining its updated guidance, said employees can be required to be vaccinated as long as employers comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In other words, a healthy 25-year-old does not have to agree to take an “investigational” non-FDA-approved vaccine<\/a> designed to prevent deaths among the unhealthy elderly, but he\/she\/ze\/they will not be receiving a paycheck if he\/she\/ze\/they refuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone whose earning potential is near the median, this is another great argument in favor of choosing the welfare lifestyle. The is no vaccine requirement to continue occupying means-tested public housing. There is no vaccine requirement to continue receiving free health insurance via Medicaid. There is no vaccine requirement to continue purchasing food via SNAP\/EBT<\/a>. There is no vaccine requirement to continue chatting on an Obamaphone. Employers can mandate random drug and alcohol tests and transportation-related employers are required to conduct random drug and alcohol tests, but, at least here in Maskachusetts, a resident of public housing can enjoy “essential” alcohol and marijuana every day. In other words, an American with a job is not free to decide what drugs to take and what drugs not to take while an American on welfare is free to choose what drugs and medical treatments to accept and what recreational drugs to consume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The American on welfare is, of course, much better situated for avoiding coronavirus infection than the American who goes to work. The American on welfare need not leave his\/her\/zir\/their apartment when variant COVID is raging. The American on welfare need not commute in a bus or subway. The American on welfare need never be in a public indoor environment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about the spending power? From back in 2013, before all of the coronapanic-related enhancements to government programs, The Work versus Welfare Trade-Off<\/a> (CATO):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Let’s also consider freedom of speech. The First Amendment isn’t useful if your employer disagrees with what you say or write. A recent story from Massachusetts, “An Elementary School Teacher\u2019s Secret Life As A White Nationalist Writer”<\/a> (HuffPost):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u201cSinclair Jenkins,\u201d HuffPost has now confirmed, is really a pseudonym for Benjamin Welton, a 33-year-old Boston University history PhD candidate who, until this week, taught English, social studies and computer science at Star Academy, an elementary school in Massachusetts. When HuffPost contacted the school for comment, Welton was put on leave, and was fired shortly before this article was published.<\/strong><\/p>

Like many conservatives, Welton has expressed anger about the teaching of \u201ccritical race theory\u201d in American schools. Last August, shortly before he began teaching at the Star Academy, he tweeted under a pseudonym that a return to American greatness \u201crequires defunding critical race theory.\u201d It\u2019s clear from his pseudonymous writings where his real objection lies: criticism of white people.<\/p>

A group of anti-fascist researchers, the Anonymous Comrades Collective, figured out Welton\u2019s double life and shared the details with HuffPost.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the content of his thought, speech, and writing, Mr. Welton (unlikely to become “Dr. Welton” given that his Ph.D. program at Boston University is right next to a Center for Antiracist Research<\/a>) would have enjoyed a secure spending power and standard of living if he’d chosen welfare rather than work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n