Majority of Americans support vaccine mandates despite GOP lawmakers' claims

Large majorities of Americans support requirements that people be vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to participate in various aspects of public life, according to a new poll conducted by the research organization COVID States Project.

Axios reports that, according to the survey, support for vaccine mandates has increased since May, the last time the COVID States Project conducted a poll on the issue.

As of July, 64% of Americans supported a requirement that everyone get be vaccinated against COVID-19, up from 62% in May.

An even greater 70% support requiring COVID-19 vaccines for air travel, while 66% support a requirement that college students be vaccinated in order to go back to school.

The poll results come as states, cities, businesses, and even the federal government have started to announce vaccine requirements for workers, saying employees need to get vaccinated or else face weekly COVID-19 testing or even be prohibited from coming back to work.

Meanwhile, Republican governors across the country have moved to ban vaccine mandates. They say that getting vaccinated is a matter of personal choice, despite the opinions of public health experts that widespread vaccination would not only end the pandemic but also keep people from needless hospitalization and even death.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a law in June that would punish businesses in the state for instituting vaccine requirements for their customers, stripping them of state licenses or banning them from receiving state contracts.

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order in April that bans government entities and businesses from requiring proof of vaccination from customers or patrons. The order led Norwegian Cruise Line to sue the state, calling such a ban unconstitutional.

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, have also come out in opposition to vaccine mandates, while also railing against new mask rules in the House that the Capitol’s acting physician put in place as the spread of the delta variant of the virus has led to another spike in COVID-19 cases.

Ultimately, vaccination has become a subject as polarized as politics in America, with polls showing Republicans are far less likely to get vaccinated than Democrats.

Capitol Hill is a microcosm of that problem. Every Democratic lawmaker has been vaccinated, but roughly one-third of the House GOP conference remains unvaccinated.

Republicans are refusing to get vaccinated even though study after study has shown that vaccines are effective at preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Data shows that nearly every person who has died of COVID-19 recently was not inoculated against the coronavirus, leading Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to say, “There is a clear message that is coming through: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.