With a sizeable percentage of people in the U.S. still not vaccinated, now the burning question is, "Do we need a Covid-19 vaccine mandate?"
To answer, we must address four issues.
1) Does the Government have the power?
Any health mandate would fall under the jurisdiction of the government's "Police Power".
According to the Maryland Law Encyclopedia, "The Police power is the power inherent in the state to prescribe, within the limits of state and federal constitutions, reasonable regulations necessary to preserve the public order, health, comfort, general welfare, safety, and morals."
The Tenth Amendment of U.S. Constitution affirms this power.
The debate on this subject will obviously be on the interpretation of reasonable regulations. However, If the government can require children to be immunized before going to school and force visitors from outside the country to vaccinate before entering this country, certainly it can mandate any measure for "preserving the health" of the citizens.
2) Do we have a need?
As reported in the New York Times dated July 17, 2021, Increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations in the past two weeks had been highest in five states with low vaccination rates: Missouri, Nevada, Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi.
At the time of this writing, over eighty percent of the new cases of Covid-19 in U.S., is found to be caused by the Delta Variant. If we want to prevent further damage from the virus and its existing and future mutations, we need to use the one effective tool we have-compulsory universal vaccination.
3) Do we have the alternatives to Government Mandates?
Public and private employers, services and organizations are already requiring vaccination for their employees and customers. Short of a government mandate, this action, if followed by businesses, organizations, and places of public assembly on their own, may have limited effect. The effect will be limited because of the unwillingness of many organizations to expose themselves to legal ramifications.
4) Do we have the political will?
This is the crux of the whole matter.
We may have the authority and the need, but until we have a political will to enforce a mandate, we will be wasting our time.
Before the mandate happens, as pointed out in the New York Times July 21, 2021 article, "Why aren't the vaccines approved?", the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). must first approve the three vaccines in the market.
As of now, FDA has only given "emergency use authorization" of current vaccines and not full approval. In order to protect military, schools and other organizations from legal entanglements, it is essential that FDA first fully approve these vaccines.
So if you ask why the government has not mandated Covid-19 vaccines, it is because government has not yet fully approved any vaccines.