Letter: Mandates equal shortages

Dismissing economic laws always leads to bad consequences. Whether you believe in the efficacy of the vaccine or not, all should be opposed to mandating its use. This is because by mandating its use, we will have shortages of the employees for whom its use is required for employment.

Human action is the driver of economic law and the action that some people have decided on is that the shot mandate is a hill they are willing to die on. Meaning, they would rather be fired or quit than to get the jab. What do you think your community will look like with 4-5% fewer teachers? 10% fewer police officers? Would you be concerned if you had an emergency and the state of Washington had 12% fewer EMTs? What would happen if 15% of doctors and hospital support staff were to leave the state of Washington for Idaho, Montana or Utah? Do you think you’d still get the quality of care you are accustomed to?

If you think this couldn’t possibly happen, think again. The Houston Methodist Hospital mandated the shot in June and fired 150 nurses who refused to get it. They are now facing staffing issues and are overwhelmed with patients. Unfortunately, these worker shortages would only be the beginning. All of these careers require years of education and training. The generation that would fill the openings, that aren’t interested in getting the jab, will find employment in different fields or in a different state. The unseen consequences of this mandate has me concerned about what the state will look like in the months and years to come.

Alan Baerlocher

Quincy