The COVID-19 pandemic has loomed over the world for the better part of a year now; yet, many still cannot shake the disbelief that it is here. Nonetheless, countries around the world continue to be ravaged by death, and the healthcare workers battle on. As vaccine distribution makes its way to the mainstream, I cannot help but wonder, will people even take the vaccine? In an already divided country, where many are refusing to wear masks due to disbelief, violation of liberty, or mere quarantine fatigue, what will become of those that disobey if vaccination orders become mandatory? Public health emergencies may seem novel, but that is not the case. Even with modern technology and the most brilliant minds, certain diseases continue to baffle the scientific community [1, pp. 611–612]. Furthermore, new ones appear and seem to render the world at the same mercy as the diseases of centuries before [1, pp. 618–619]. On the other hand, the evolution of vaccination has been successful on many fronts as well. Vaccines for polio, measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella are just a few of the vaccines that have been used successfully for several decades [2, S5, S6].

中文翻译：

---

疫苗、公共卫生和法律


近一年来，新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 疫情已席卷全球；然而，许多人仍然无法摆脱对它就在这里的怀疑。尽管如此，世界各国继续遭受死亡的摧残，医护人员仍在奋战。随着疫苗分发成为主流，我不禁想知道，人们还会接种疫苗吗？在一个已经分裂的国家，许多人因不相信、侵犯自由或仅仅是隔离疲劳而拒绝戴口罩，如果疫苗接种令成为强制性的，那些不服从的人会怎样？突发公共卫生事件似乎很新奇，但事实并非如此。即使拥有现代技术和最聪明的头脑，某些疾病仍然困扰着科学界[1，第 611-612 页]。此外，新疾病的出现似乎使世界与几个世纪前的疾病一样受到怜悯[1，第618-619页]。另一方面，疫苗接种的发展在许多方面也取得了成功。脊髓灰质炎、麻疹、风疹、腮腺炎和水痘疫苗只是几十年来已成功使用的少数疫苗[2, S5, S6]。