To be or Not to be… Vaccinated?

I know you must have thoughts and opinions on this vaccine mandate that has many industries in turmoil, but the transportation industry seems to be extremely affected or will be.

I have read a lot about this from many different perspectives. The transportation industry seems to be at the approx. 50% vaccinated. So, some of my first thoughts, which I don’t seem to see much being said about it is if vaccinations don’t keep you from getting it or spreading it why all the uproar. Yes, I understand that it may lower the effects of the severity of the individual. I am not advocating one way or the other. However, I do believe it should be an individual’s decision, not a mandate. I also don’t think using OSHA as the governing body is correct. The broadness of the way it is written worries me as to what will be next.

Now, all that said the real controversy seems more to point, does OSHA have the authority to pursue the mandate and the broad way it is written? Not to what it will accomplish being the fact that it will not keep you from getting the virus or spreading the virus.

What it does seem to be doing is pushing drivers close to retirement to go ahead and retire and making it harder to recruit drivers in an industry already with a shortage problem of drivers in a time we are already experiencing issues with deliveries due to the shortage. Not to mention the cost incurred to the industry to inform it or have to do weekly testing.

Indirectly, this will fall into your last article of recruiting, hiring, and retention of employees.

So, my question to you is, what are your thoughts? This possible mandate has many different issues that will affect the transportation industry that is already experiencing issues with driver shortages and retention, in my opinion. I value your thoughts and opinions.

Your friend

John,

These thoughts cross my mind on a daily basis and if there is ever a perfect use of the phrase “The tail is wagging the dog” it is here. The whole debate over vaccination has perpetuated me to reevaluate my core values. Being a Veteran I stood and will continue to stand for our constitution and everything it stands for yesterday, today and in the future.  However, the challenge is the media communicating accurate information to the masses. From my perspective COVID19 is a man-made virus and I say that not by anything I read in the media, because of how it has developed and matured within various societies and environments. It just doesn’t act like any other virus we’ve come up against socially. This virus was an assault on our county just as if they sent a bomb our direction. If you don’t believe that you’ve got your head buried in the sand. Congress hasn’t done anything but attempt to impeach Trump and throw their own spin on issues rather than stand for what the constitution predicates and wasted precious dollars we don’t have. And true to form, they have wasted time (Time is money.) with this issue as well.

In short, yes, I believe that everyone has the right to make their own respective decision on the vaccine or not, that is why we live in America. However, I truly believe if they understood the factual details and were presented in a fashion the masses could understand, they would react in a much more civilized manner and many more would be getting the vaccination.  If the pandemic would have hit twenty (20) years ago the duration would have been much shorter due how our society has digressed in that time frame. Facemasks are diapers for the socially and hygienically inept. I wear a facemask out of respect for others and to protect myself from the aforementioned nincompoops.

As such, when you asked your preverbal questions and got to really thinking about it as I mentioned, I had to re-evaluate my core values, thoughts, feelings, and ideals to today’s culture and reality. (Not an easy task.)  Moreover, I also believe employers also have the right to demand that its employees be vaccinated or not, just as they have the right to demand any other skill-set for a given profession. Since you wrote your synopsis the ATA (American Trucking Association) has won battle in the Supreme Court and OSHA has withdrawn the mandate. Now the challenge is on our North and South borders. I find it quite frustrating that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has had to rescind every one of its recommendations. So, to answer your question is OSHA the correct arm of the government to oversee this type of mandate? No, but unfortunately neither is the CDC. OSHA have notoriously sent out inadequately trained inspectors who were out to make their respective mark rather than inspectors who could apply common sense to the gray area of the regulations. The Air Force even attempted to force an unvaccinated officer to retire. This was even blocked by the upper courts. As such, each one of these attempts to force the mandate has failed. From my perspective, this means as the laws of our great nation stand today, no governing body has the authority to impose this type of vaccination mandate. However, with socialistic fractions in Congress today, this will probably change in the not to distant future.  Jimmy Buffet had a lyric in a song quite some time ago “Did you get your stupid vaccine today?” It seems Congress and the President took his advice but thank God the Supreme Court didn’t.

The transportation industry is the heartbeat of our nation. Without it the shelves of our retailers and our stomachs would be empty.  We need our governing bodies to work together in order to make the transportation industry more appealing to attract and retain employees on all levels, not just drivers and mechanics. Plain and simple until they do, the tail will still be wagging the dog.