Murphy's vaccine plan sounds (so far) so good

There has been a lot of talk and a lot of rumor on the street about mandatory coronavirus. The idea is so scary to me and doesn’t sound as impossible as one might think. After all, New York already has mandatory flu vaccinations for kids in order for them to be able to go to school. And legal groups in New York City have already floated the idea of making the vaccine mandatory there.

Plus, I’ve heard Gov. Phil Murphy say and seen him do some things that I never thought would be said or done in New Jersey. I think during the pandemic, we all have. That’s why I was on the edge of my seat with the announcement of Murphy’s COVID-19 vaccine plans.

I know it sounds crazy to a lot of people, but Murphy’s history is progressive “overreach” made me worry about it.

I legitimately thought that somehow he was going to try to mandate it. I thought that he would use some open-ended wording that would make it seem like we weren’t going to be forced to take the vaccine but eventually we would be forced to anyway. But, according to his plan, so far, we still have the right to choose.

The only thing that is a little bit disturbing about the vaccine plan, now that it’s really imminent, is that the state will track whether you've had it, as an article on our site Friday describes. You can opt out of the tracking, but not until the public health emergency is declared over, and who knows when that will be?

Is this a way to manipulate more of us into taking it? Who knows. But Murphy mentioned that this was the easiest way to streamline the process and he does have a point there.

He did specifically say Friday, though, you won't be forced to take the vaccine. That was somewhat comforting.

So, we’re all in. Unless we’re out. And at least for now, we can each make our own decision.