HJAR Mar/Apr 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAR / APR 2022 19 According to the Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention, community transmis- sion of COVID-19 was first detected in the United States in February 2020. 1 In the two years since, the lexicon of the healthcare industry, as well as the public at large, has expanded to include many new or seldom- heard terms. Personal protective equip- ment (PPE), herd immunity, KN95 masks, epidemic and pandemic (and the difference between the two), social distancing, shelter- ing in place, and flattening the curve have all gained widespread popular use in main- stream media, social media, and everyday water-cooler conversation. While the terms themselves may seemquite benign, depend- ing on the context and the audience, their use can have very different implications. VACCINATION MANDATES One term that is not novel but has assumed a life of its own is “vaccination mandate.” Vaccination mandates are not new. Many of us remember our own or our children’s experiences with vaccination requirements to enter (or remain in) school. “Anti-vaxxers” have been a small but vocal minority for many years, and the concept, if not the name, actually goes back to the early 19th century, when smallpox vacci- nations were criticized on sanitary, politi- cal, and even religious bases. More recently, individuals oppose vaccinations due to fear that vaccines can cause autism, a general fear or mistrust of science, religious beliefs, and a general belief that the risks of vaccina- tions outweigh the benefits. 2 With the rise of COVID-19, judgments regarding vaccinations and vaccina- tion mandates were widespread and well announced. While there was widespread support for the development of a vaccine as the best answer to effectively control the COVID-19 pandemic, the speed at which the vaccines were developed surprised many. When the vaccines received emergency use authorization in late 2020 and were initially made available to elderly individu- als and healthcare workers, the healthcare sector seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief, as did many others who saw the development of a vaccine as the solution to the pandemic.