A year ago, the COVID vaccine was a distant hope. A few months ago, it was our ticket to a free and clear summer.

Now, as August begins, we’re finding that not enough Americans want to get the shot that could end all of this in a matter of weeks. Their refusal is putting the health of others at risk, and it’s allowing the spread of more dangerous strain that has changed the fight against COVID for the worse.

For us to get through this, life has to get harder on these folks, not as a punishment for refusing a vaccine but as a way for everyone else to get their lives back without inviting unnecessary illness or death – while protecting those who remain unprotected through no action of their own.

If that sounds harsh or dramatic, just look at the South, where areas with low vaccination rates are being hammered by the delta variant, a more contagious version of COVID-19 that is now the dominant strain in the U.S.

For the majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated, the delta variant appears to pose little personal risk. The vaccines are still highly effective against the strain, and though “breakthrough” cases do occur, they are almost universally mild – the vast majority of deaths and hospitalizations are now among the unvaccinated.

However, new evidence suggests vaccinated people can spread the new variant just as well as the unvaccinated, leading to the mask recommendations made last week.

The new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance calls for individuals in areas of high or substantial transmission to resume wearing masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Gov. Mills announced Wednesday that Maine would adopt that guidance but would not mandate masks again at this time. Mainers will have to check the Maine CDC website each day for current information about which counties are transmission hot spots where masks should be worn indoors.

The variant may cause more severe illness in older patients, too, regardless of vaccination status. The vulnerability of those people, as well as the presence of everyone who cannot yet receive the vaccine – those who are too young, who don’t have their parents’ permission or who have an underlying health condition – makes it all the more important that everyone who can be vaccinated is.

Despite the new evidence on the delta variant, it remains true that a more widely vaccinated population would stop the spread of COVID.

We know some hesitant people are waiting for the vaccines to receive full approval. The Food and Drug Administration should get rid of this objection as soon as possible – with every reputable doctor, hospital and public health official in the country begging Americans to get their shots, it’s absurd to keep the vaccines in limbo.

But before even that, businesses, organizations and institutions should look to vaccine mandates – again, not to punish people who refuse vaccines but to keep their employees and visitors safe. That has to be the first priority.

As President Biden has indicated will happen with federal employees, employers could offer routine testing and masks as an alternative for anyone who does not want the vaccine.

Mandates are an obvious step for hospital and other health care providers, which have required vaccines for employees in the past, and have every obligation to keep their patients and staff safe.

No one seeking care should have to wonder if the people who are supposed to care for them are actually putting them in danger – especially when there is a perfectly safe and effective vaccine.

The same applies to nearly everywhere people gather. The vaccine is our way out of this. People have every right to refuse it – but they don’t have a right to put others at risk.