Vaccines Save Lives, But Mandates Destroy Freedom
There is a storm gathering in 2025. You can feel it in the headlines, in the political corridors, in the relentless talk shows where experts and politicians compete for airtime. The new front line? Vaccine mandates.
The catalyst was the RFL hearing in Washington, where Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now serving in the Trump administration, was grilled over his long-standing criticism of pharmaceutical giants. Senators demanded his resignation. Pharmaceutical lobbyists cheered them on. The air was thick with accusations: “anti-science”, “danger to public health”, “irresponsible”. And yet behind the fury was something else: fear.
Because here’s the truth: RFK Jr. has never said vaccines should be abolished. He has said only that people should have the choice. That’s enough to terrify the pharmaceutical lobby, which thrives on guaranteed markets enforced by the state.
And this is why we need to be clear in this moment of hysteria: vaccines are good, vaccines are important, vaccines save lives, but mandates are wrong.
Vaccines and My Family
This is not abstract for me. It is personal. Amy and I have vaccinated our kids. We are grateful for the protection vaccines provide. In fact, we even went further: our children are vaccinated against chickenpox, a shot that many parents in Europe skip. For us, the benefits outweighed the risks.
But here’s the key: it was our choice. And I know many parents who made the opposite decision. I respect them. In a free society, you do not need to justify every parental decision to the state.
That is why vaccine mandates, especially when tied to school attendance, are a red line. Education is a right, not a bargaining chip. No child should be excluded from school because their parents exercised free choice.
Germany: The Heavy Hand of History
Germany, my country of birth, has made the measles vaccine mandatory for children attending school and kindergarten. The justification was public safety, measles is highly contagious. But there is a shadow here.
In Germany, “mandatory” does not sound like an abstract concept. The 20th century taught us what happens when the state claims the right to dictate private life “for the greater good.” And yet today, politicians insist on linking school attendance, the very foundation of a child’s future, to compliance with a medical order.
The result? Many parents comply, not because they are convinced, but because they are coerced. That is not trust. That is control. And the irony is that vaccination rates in Germany were already high before the mandate. What was gained? Nothing, except the state reminding citizens who is boss.
Switzerland: Freedom and Trust
Switzerland, by contrast, embodies another path. There, vaccines are recommended but not required. The federal government campaigns, educates, and provides access, but stops short of compulsion.
The Swiss system rests on a simple belief: trust your citizens. And it works. Vaccination coverage is high. Outbreaks are rare. Parents are not dragged into courtrooms. No child is barred from school.
Switzerland proves a crucial point: freedom and public health can coexist.
USA: The Land of Freedom, With Strings Attached
The United States loves to call itself the land of liberty. But when it comes to vaccines, freedom comes with conditions.
In most states, children cannot attend school unless they’ve received a long list of mandated shots: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, diphtheria, pertussis, and more. The assumption is clear: no jab, no education.
But here’s the irony: the U.S. Constitution still protects individual rights, and in practice, many families find ways out of the mandates.
Texas: Freedom in Practice
Take Texas, the state I know well and love. In Texas, vaccines are required for schoolchildren, but the law also provides broad exemptions. Parents may file a “conscientious objection” affidavit, which includes religious or philosophical reasons, and submit it to the school. Once filed, the child may attend school without being vaccinated.
It’s not automatic; parents must request the form from the Texas Department of State Health Services, sign it, and have it notarized. But it is entirely legal. And thousands of families in Texas do it every year.
This matters. It shows that even in a system that formally mandates vaccines, freedom survives in the details. Texas recognizes that parents, not bureaucrats, hold ultimate authority over their children’s bodies.
The Broader U.S. Picture
Not every state is as free as Texas. In California, for example, philosophical exemptions have been eliminated. Only narrow medical exemptions remain, tightly policed by state bureaucrats. The same trend is spreading to other “blue states.”
But in “red states” like Texas, Florida, and much of the South and Midwest, exemptions remain strong. Parents who object can, with paperwork, refuse. Their children are not excluded from school.
During COVID, these differences became glaring. In New York or California, vaccine mandates were enforced with zeal: workers fired, students barred, businesses shut. In Texas and Florida, governors resisted. Mandates were blocked. Life went on.
The lesson is simple: America is not one country when it comes to vaccine freedom. It is two. In one, mandates are enforced with near-totalitarian fervor. In the other, citizens still have the tools to say no.
And it is no coincidence that Texas, the state most synonymous with independence, is also the state where parental choice is most robustly protected.
The United Kingdom: Common Sense Without Coercion
Cross the Atlantic, and the UK shows another path. The National Health Service offers vaccines for free. It campaigns hard. And uptake is high. But crucially, there is no mandate.
A British parent who refuses a vaccine may get a stern letter from the GP, but their child will still go to school. And guess what? The UK is not suffering a measles epidemic. There is no polio crisis. Herd immunity is intact.
The British approach proves the obvious: when people are trusted, they usually make sensible choices. They vaccinate their children not because they are forced, but because they want to protect them.
Ireland: A Small Country, A Big Lesson
Ireland, where I once lived, follows the same principle. Vaccination is voluntary. Uptake is strong. Parents are trusted. And children are not punished for their parents’ decisions.
What struck me most in Ireland was the atmosphere of community around healthcare. Vaccination days in small towns felt like part of life. Families gathered. Parents discussed their choices openly. The government was present, but not as an enforcer. It was there as a partner.
That is what trust looks like. And it works.
The Political Weaponization of Health
What frightens me most is not vaccines themselves, but how they are being used. In Germany, in the USA, in Brussels, vaccination is becoming a political weapon.
Call it what it is: mandates are not about saving lives. They are about showing power. They are about proving that the state can compel obedience in the most intimate sphere of life: the body of your child.
When politicians demand mandates, they are not defending science. They are defending authority. And when pharmaceutical lobbies cheer, they are not defending children. They are defending profits.
Vaccines as Life-Savers, But Freedom as Non-Negotiable
Let me be clear once again: vaccines are life-savers. The polio vaccine spared my generation nightmares. The MMR shot keeps countless children alive. My own kids are vaccinated.
But mandates are a poison disguised as medicine. They corrode trust, erode freedom, and punish children for their parents’ decisions.
The better path is clear. Trust parents. Respect choice. Provide information. Offer vaccines freely. But never force.
Conclusion: What Kind of Society Do We Want?
The question is larger than medicine. It is about what kind of society we want to be. Do we want to live in a world where the state decides which child may go to school, which parent is fit, which body must comply? Or do we want to live in a society where free citizens, trusted with truth, make decisions out of love, not fear?
I know my answer. Vaccinate your kids. Protect them. But do it because you believe in it, not because a bureaucrat demanded it.
Health is precious. Freedom is priceless. And the two must never be set against each other.
