McCroskey Commentary: Mandatory Vaccines and Illegal Border Crossings

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As our government at various levels demands employees get vaccinated or lose their jobs, I have wondered what that could mean. I have talked to some who would be affected by this requirement and will not get vaccinated. Some are looking for similar jobs out of state.

Of course this is only anecdotal, but what if there is a mass exodus from some of these critical jobs, some of which are already in short supply? Then what?

These concerns were expressed recently by both Sen. John Braun and Rep. Peter Abbarno in a recent news story here in The Chronicle. It has also led to a newly formed group called Medical Freedom Lewis County and they sound serious in their objection to this mandate. 

On the other side are those who are confident those in public service will accept the mandate and get the jab to keep their job. At least as Gov. Inslee was quoted “it is our hope” and later he is “extremely hopeful” these people will comply rather than quit their jobs, but if they do quit, he added,  no unemployment for them.

So comply, or else.

But if it’s the science we are supposed to follow, why should people who had the disease and have the antibodies, that some experts say are much more effective than the vaccine, be required to take the shot? Or why haven’t other options, like monoclonal antibody treatment been left open as an option? Now I don’t pretend to know what that is, but Gov. Ron DeSantis from Florida does and apparently Dr. Fauci does too and both suggest it is an effective and underutilized treatment for this. Maybe we should know more about that before mandating a vaccine.

When this all started, we were told if we shut down the country for two weeks, that’s all we needed to do to beat this. So we did and in the process we destroyed many small businesses. Of course two weeks wasn’t enough and it dragged on for what seemed like forever. At first masks weren’t necessary or effective, Dr. Fauci announced. But over time that changed and if one mask was good, two was even better. Then it was just get the vaccination and you can return to normal life, no masks required any more.

Some of us did but we still have to wear masks.

Maybe we’ve lost confidence in those “experts” since in large part dissenting experts are ignored, censored or ridiculed. The ones we’ve been forced to listen to, government employees mostly, have been wrong enough we don’t believe them anymore. And just maybe, this concern about this vaccine started with the same people who were bad mouthing it and claimed not to trust it before the election, are now mandating we do.



We do know that at the same time as this demand we all be vaccinated or lose our jobs, our southern border is being overrun by illegal immigrants, some with COVID-19. Many are being shipped all over the country while we are being told that’s not the problem; we are.

So suck it up and do what we say or else.

Maybe if they were consistent and admitted the huge riots and protests around the country — where felonies are being committed — were at least as bad as pro-freedom, pro-America rallies were, they’d be more credible. Or that endless illegal entry on our southern border might be part of the problem and not just with COVID-19, but they haven’t.

Riots, shipping potentially infected migrants across the country is good, but Sturgis is bad.

When I was a kid, I remember getting shots at school. I can’t recall what all of them were for, but we got them. Back then we trusted our government and the major network news to be honest with us. 

Unfortunately that’s not the case anymore and that’s really too bad.

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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.