Charlie Sykes: ‘My Right to Refuse a Vaccine Ends When I Begin to Infect Other People’

EXCERPT:

SYKES: "That is the sentence of the day. And if you’re upset about mask mandates, you need to focus on the unvaccinated and the manmade crisis of disinformation, demagoguery, ignorance and stubbornness that we’re seeing here. Look, this is very much a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and I think that's where the focus ought to be. Sure, I think that perhaps mask mandates will have a place, but I think it’s time, also, to grow up and say, 'Look, especially among conservatives, you have to balance freedom against your civic responsibility.' My right to swing my fist ends where it hits your nose. My right to refuse a vaccine ends when I begin to infect other people with a potentially fatal illness. And we used to understand this kind of balance. And if people will not go along with that, I think we need to create much more creative incentives or disincentives. I have no problem with vaccine passports, proof of vaccination. If in the south, for example, they were to require proof of vaccination to get into high school and college football games, I think it would be a marvelously clarifying moment for many of the anti-vaxers.”