Nelson Otto
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
One of the most valued tenants in our Constitution is the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments. To fit the parameters of an LTE, I will limit it to the key points. "No person shall be..deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law." Liberty as defined by Webster's: "the power of choice." Also in our society and officially entered into or legal system by Coffin vs U.S. 1894 that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Individuals refusing to wear a mask or not taking a vaccine cannot be arbitrarily blamed for the death of those who have contracted COVID-19. Originally the same misplaced sentiment of fear and guilt was applied during the AIDS epidemic. "Don't touch him. He's gay, he could give you AIDS." In both cases, one must have the virus in order to give it to someone else and then it takes more than just passing someone to get it. We have learned by what is going on in Israel that a person can get and give COVID-19 after being vaccinated. Yet it is the unvaccinated that are being accused of killing people. Many who are not vaccinated have already had COVID and are now immune and studies show natural immunity is much better than the vaccine. Plus there are many new treatments available; Florida has instituted clinics to administer one of these successful treatments.
The president cannot make a law. Only Congress can do that, and, according to Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905) it is the individual states' legislatures that have the right to make laws and rules concerning health, not the federal government.
It is not logical to force someone to take a vaccine to protect those who have already taken a vaccine because if the vaccine worked they would already be protected. The only people at risk are those not taking the vaccine and only if we behave like those who took the vaccine.