NEW YORK (GZERO MEDIA) - Despite all of its previous efforts, the US government should legally mandate Covid-19 vaccines for its citizens, says US political scientist Ian Bremmer.
In this week's 'Ian's Quick Take', a video series by GZERO Media, Mr Bremmer notes that despite the numerous incentives and campaigns to encourage vaccinations, only 50 per cent of the US population are fully vaccinated.
He also says that unlike Africa, which is facing a shortage of vaccines and only has a 1 per cent vaccination rate, the US has sufficient supply of vaccines, and yet people are actively rejecting the vaccine.
Vaccination rates in Canada, the UK, and the EU have already, or about to, surpass vaccination rates in the US, he points out.
Mr Bremmer highlights that the US "has by far the biggest initial advantage in getting these vaccines produced and distributed", and that "political division in this country" is the main reason why vaccination numbers in the US are low.
He laments that it is "increasingly getting impossible to convince people that there is a scientific side of this argument that is correct" and that the politicisation of Covid-19 vaccines will affect "tens of thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands of additional lives".
Referring to the smallpox vaccine, Mr Bremmer notes that there is precedent for a vaccine mandate, and that doing so is not an authoritarian move.
He also argues that the US government has taken many liberties in the name of national security after the 9/11 attacks, and that a vaccine mandate can do much more to save lives with less risk to the personal liberties of US citizens.
This GZERO media video is being shown here as part of a media partnership agreement with The Straits Times.
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