The grocery store is different. Masks are no longer required and the one-way arrows directing customers in the aisles are gone. My trips to New York City are back on with word that Broadway productions will soon be open. Fans are crowding into seats for the Utah Jazz playoffs.

Normalcy is returning. The Center for Disease Control, rightly maligned for issuing awkward, non-cohesive advice, is declaring that social and family life can now be enjoyed – drink a beer, eat a muffin, hug a nephew – but…

Here’s the but: Restrictions are lifted for those completing their vaccine regime. Without a sizable segment of Utah and the nation being vaccinated, the virus will not vanish. It will inevitably mutate, putting all of us – even those vaccinated – at different degrees of risk. 

Like the anti-mask and anti-vaccination crowd, I believe that people should be accountable for their actions rather than forced by government decree.  And that’s why I strongly support the vaccination card.  

Don’t tell me that takes away Constitutional rights.  If that were true, we wouldn’t mandate driver’s licenses or passports. There are certain “papers”one needs to access life’s routine. I didn’t have to be a schoolteacher, but when I did, I needed to have a TB test. I don’t have to be a plumber, but if I do, I need to be certified that I know the difference between a drainpipe and a flue.

The rights associated with a vaccination card would be similar to “best customer” rewards offered by retail stores.

If a school district decided to safely admit only vaccinated children, a parent opposed could look elsewhere to a non-mandated charter or private school. There is no constitutional right to gain entrance and infect other children in your “neighborhood” school.

Similarly, airlines might find it financially advantageous to require a vaccination card to board any of its flights. The majority of airline flyers might appreciate the move and make the airline their first choice. If you weren’t vaccinated, you could always seek out an airline that has a different policy. A restaurant-brewery in downtown Salt Lake City found enormous support from customers when it allowed entry only to those showing a vaccination card.

If a library requires a card and you don’t have one, you can opt for a local bookstore.  And if all bookstores require a card, you could order a book through Amazon.

Those opposed to vaccinations would find some things more inconvenient, but that would be their choice, just like an inebriated person being turned away from a Utah liquor store or a rural resident who has to drive two hours to dine at a fancy restaurant. We all make choices – where to live, what to buy, how to live our lives – and we expect to pay the consequences for these choices.

Don’t rant about government intrusion. Vaccines are free and fairly simple to obtain. Be accountable for your choices. That’s the thoughtful American way.