President Biden made a hard choice on Thursday, unveiling a set of new policies that compels two-thirds of America’s workforce to get inoculated against COVID-19. The announcement has already encountered serious blowback.

Ignore the noise, Mr. President.

In essence, Biden is doing what most parents of young children do: urging Americans to eat their vegetables… or else. Yes, this could feel condescending, but we’re in a rare moment when the country needs a firm hand, a leader willing to save us from ourselves.

Without a doubt, there’s something dangerous in that notion. There are real concerns about government overreach, particularly in the realm of health – see Texas’ new abortion ban, for instance. And the rebel instinct is often admirable; we wouldn’t have expanded Civil Rights in this country if brave men and women didn’t challenge the prevailing political and cultural consensuses over and over again.

But it takes an intense form of myopia to resist Biden’s new policies by citing ‘personal choice’ in the midst of a global pandemic. There’s a difference between an argument in theory and an argument in the real world. Right now, that difference could be measured in dead bodies. Ten thousand Americans are succumbing to the virus every week and the ripple effects are enormous. Hospitals are strained, millions of careers have been derailed, and the education system has been upended by a startling rise in pediatric COVID-19 cases.

So if there’s ever a situation when personal choice ought to be deprioritized, this is it. The contagious nature of the virus makes it a collective problem. Therefore, we need a collective solution. That leaves no room to coddle the misperceptions of the vaccine hesitant.

Because the science is clear: the benefits of getting vaccinated far outweigh the barely-there risks. And if a person has a legitimate medical issue that prevents them from getting inoculated, the new Biden plan offers them an exemption. There are religious carveouts, too, and employees in the private sector can avoid the jab if they are willing to submit to weekly tests.

So what exactly is the issue?

Unfortunately, vaccines have become yet another political football in our highly polarized nation. For many on the right, public health advice – even when supported by empirical data – is mere commentary, no different than the opinions shared by cable news talking heads on the political horse trading of the day. This is an unfortunate symptom of a way-too-crowded public square; when so many people are bloviating, it’s easy to dismiss all discourse as chatter.

Biden’s new spate of mandates seeks to end the debate. ‘This is no longer up for discussion,’ he essentially said, get ‘the jab.’ To extend the parenting metaphor, this isn’t a ‘because I told you so’ moment. It’s a ‘I’ve had enough of this nonsense’ moment.

That will certainly make Biden a bad guy in many vaccine hesitant circles; right-wing media used words like ‘tyrant’ and ‘dictator’ to describe the president after he introduced the new rules.

But Biden seems to recognize that there are higher stakes on the line than his popularity. He’s trying to keep as many Americans a live as possible, even if that makes him a whipping boy.  

And in willfully becoming a target of anti-vax venom, Biden is providing cover to businesses that may have wanted to get their workforces inoculated, but were afraid of employee blowback. Consider this, from The Wall Street Journal:

Chad Farley, president of market development for Zters Inc., a Houston-based provider of portable toilets and other temporary site services, said he welcomes Mr. Biden’s new requirements. “We have been struggling as a company with hiring enough people lately,” he added. “If we were to mandate it ourselves, we would lose some employees. The fact that it is coming from the government takes some of the heat off of us.”

In other words, businesses can simply say, “Hey, get jabbed. Sorry you don’t want to. It’s not our decision. Blame Biden.”

The president is wagering that any enmity will be short-lived. Indeed, if COVID-19 infections fall as vaccinations rise, history will credit Biden with making a brave decision.