Last Updated on March 20, 2021
During the March 18 episode of his radio show, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro made the case for mandatory vaccination.
When a caller asked Shapiro about the use of fetal baby DNA, and about the vaccine companies not having any liability and having access to a special government-sponsored payout system for those who sustain critical injuries or die because of vaccines, Shapiro made the case for mandating them anyway.
Shapiro claimed that personal liberty only counts when it comes to vaccines if the vaccine is simply designed to protect you from a disease, and not to achieve herd immunity. “One, you have to determine that there are differences in my opinion with regard to vaccines that are directly designed to prevent you from getting a disease, and ones that rely on herd immunity in order to prevent others from getting a disease,” said Shapiro.
“So, for example, if there is a vaccine that was only, the only purpose of it is for you to be vaccinated against a particular disease, but there’s no real risk of you becoming a carrier of that disease, for example, then that’s up to you, because obviously it’s your choice or not to have a disease.”
Shapiro then made the case in an extremely long sentence that vaccines are analogous to water pollution, saying that if someone pollutes a river, and that bothers somebody else who is downstream from the river, then that would be illegal.
“If, however, there is certain diseases, like mumps, measles, rubella, which are highly transmissible, and where you require herd immunity, specifically to prevent against the transmission of the disease to people who cannot have vaccinations,” said Shapiro, “that prevent transmission of that disease to those people, then you run into the externality problem.”
Shapiro then claimed that “Even libertarians believe that externalities are not protected by law. meaning that, if you are polluting a river, and you are upstream from someone else, then sure, the river, you’re polluting it, but the problem is that river is polluting somebody else downstream, you don’t have the right to do that.”
Ben mandatory vaccinations Shapiro
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) March 18, 2021
In fact, government mandated vaccines is a topic of some disagreement in the libertarian community, as evidenced by a lengthy article by Reason that showcased the libertarian arguments both for and against mandatory vaccination.
“There is a considerable difference between giving a seriously ill child a proven life-saving medicine versus subjecting a completely healthy child to a drug that is known to cause severe, or even potentially fatal, adverse effects, however small the chance,” wrote a libertarian doctor at the time. “This is an ethical issue that goes to the heart of our basic human right to informed consent to any drug treatment or medical intervention.”
With his endorsement of mandatory vaccinations, Shapiro joins controversial lawyer Alan Dershowitz in the belief that the government has the right to forcibly vaccinate Americans. Last year, Dershowitz said, ““Let me put it very clearly, you have no constitutional right to endanger the public and spread the disease even if you disagree,” Dershowitz said, continuing, “You have no right not to be vaccinated, you have no right not to wear a mask, you have no right to open up your business.”
Dershowitz later asserted, “If you refuse to be vaccinated, the state has the power to literally take you to a doctor’s office and plunge a needle into your arm.”
Shapiro has a long history of taking policies and making endorsements that appear both anti-conservative and anti-America First.
Last month, Shapiro bashed the Trump-endorsed Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, Kelli Ward, for taking action to censure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who refused to allow the Arizona legislature to review the credible reports of widespread voter fraud in the state that could have helped reverse what many consider to be false election results certifying Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona. He described Ducey, who became one of the top critics of President Donald Trump in the country, as “excellent.”
Similarly, last year Shapiro demanded conservatives stop criticizing Sen. Mitt Romney for voting to impeach President Trump after the Democrats failed to make the case that the 45th president engaged in “quid pro quo” with Ukraine.
While President Trump worked steadily to remove America from costly and seemingly pointless foreign entanglements in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, in 2019, Shapiro sided with the hawkish John Bolton.
It was also recently revealed that Shapiro is “shadow-boosted” by Facebook, meaning while most conservatives are censored or banned outright by the big tech platform, Facebook uses its algorithms to promote Shapiro’s content to users who do not like or otherwise engage with the commentator.
