Free To Choose

Governor Kathy Hochul deserves credit for giving New York State residents a shot in the arm, figuratively and literally.

The mess that is the federal Health Department has effectively muddied the waters on COVID vaccines. This is to be expected: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been a vaccine critic and skeptic; he has stacked the department with like-minded pseudo-experts who are eager to look past most vaccines’ proven benefits to try to find hidden, lurking dangers. The damage is being done: Many people now are wary of vaccines, for themselves and their children, after trying to wade through the contradictory information they find online and via social media.

Simply put, though, the COVID vaccine, like the influenza vaccine, has a place in our annual health care rituals. Older people, who are most at risk of serious complications, along with people whose comorbidities make them especially vulnerable as well, should discuss the need with their primary care doctors. But if those doctors agree that they should get the shot, listen to them — not some random “expert” online.

And most people have the ability to make an informed decision, and those who think a vaccine is a safe way to approach a season when the flu and COVID are going to spread, as they do annually, should be able to act on that.

With her executive order, Hochul made that possible. Nobody has to get the shot — if you have hesitations, you can act on them as well and skip it. But people who strongly believe it’s a way to keep them safe this fall, winter and spring, when we spend more time indoors than out, can take action without having to jump through ridiculous hoops.

It took a governor to act, but the result is exactly the world we should live in: a world of free choice when it comes to your own health.