Op-Ed by Irwin Redlener, Opinion Contributor, The Hill

Enough already with tiptoeing around the issue of mandates! Vaccines are the most effective tool we have to stop the spread of the deadliest pandemic in more than 100 years, a scourge that has already killed more than 613,000 Americans and at least 4 million people worldwide. Last week alone, the U.S. recorded an average of nearly 94,000 new cases per day, 48 percent higher than the preceding week. 

Following New York’s lead, we urgently need a national vaccine mandate to stop the pandemic and save lives. Unfortunately, since we live in a federalist system of government, the federal government is actually precluded from issuing or enforcing a national vaccine mandate for the general public. It can only require federal employees to be vaccinated. And President Biden has already done just that.

Getting to a nationwide vaccine mandate will depend on our ability to create a complex mosaic of requirements imposed by states, cities, businesses, universities, and school districts. No easy task.

… Given all of the obvious challenges to fighting COVID-19, here's what we can do going forward: