Alan Dershowitz says states can mandate vaccination if vaccine stops the spread of illness to others

Attorney Alan Dershowitz during an interview on "The Water Cooler" with host David Brody said that states can mandate vaccinations if the vaccine stops the inoculated individual from spreading sickness to others.

"If a vaccine not only prevents you from getting the illness but prevents you from spreading it to innocent other people the state can compel it," Dershowitz said. "If on the other hand the vaccine only prevents you from getting it and has no public health implications, then the Constitutional question becomes much, much, much more compelling."

As the U.S. continues to contend with the ongoing coronavirus crisis, emergency use authorizations for vaccines could soon be approved.

But not every American plans to get a vaccination when it becomes available. An AP-NORC poll indicates that 47% of American adults plan to get vaccinated, while 26% will not get a COVID-19 vaccine and 27% are not sure.

"I know this is a little bit of a political question, but it does have a medical base to it, and that is about these vaccines as it relates to them being mandated at some point, I know that'll be up to state, local officials but I know there are people that are concerned that to get on an airplane you would have to have the vaccine," Brody said when he recently interviewed U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome Adams. "Who knows if that's gonna happen, but I think there's a concern that if you don't get the vaccine you might be ostracized to a degree in this country somehow, someway."

"Well I think it's gonna be incredibly difficult for anyone to mandate a vaccine that is approved under an emergency use authorization," Adams said in response to Brody. "To your point, I think more people will be inclined to get the vaccine because it will allow them to be more confident about traveling, it will allow us to more safely reopen restaurants, businesses, etcetera. I want people to do it because they believe it's safe, not because they're forced to do it."

"These vaccines are safe. They are incredibly effective. They're the way we end this pandemic," Adams said.

According to Johns Hopkins University there have been more than 15.3 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and more than 288,000 deaths.