A new poll is out that may confirm what we already know about how Americans view vaccine mandates at the state and federal levels for everyone from students in school to health care workers in hospitals to even police officers and firefighters.
The survey of Americans in this new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research about President Biden’s plan to require most workers to get vaccinated or be tested at least every week found a familiar deep divide along political party lines. About 75 percent of Democrats agree with the plan. Only 25-percent of Republicans agree with it.
The political split about vaccine mandates is reflective of the same splits there have been over wearing face masks and the public health orders and stay at home orders since the start of this whole pandemic. And with mostly unvaccinated people still being hospitalized and dying from the COVID virus, these splits are making it even more challenging to put the pandemic behind us.
But attitudes about vaccine mandates are clearly strong.
A firefighter in Texas in this new survey said this, “I don’t think the government should have a say in me having to get the vaccine or lose my job or get tested.”
A firefighter in San Diego writes in the L-A Times, “If you do not want to protect the citizens, by refusing to be vaccinated against a virus that has killed dozens of your brothers and sisters in the fire service, then resign immediately and give the job to someone who will do the right thing.”
Back at the start of the pandemic we were told that we are all in this together. What happened??
PHOTO: Anti-vaccine protesters stage a protest outside of the San Diego Unified School District office to protest a forced vaccination mandate for students on September 28, 2021 in San Diego, California. The School District was holding a virtual hearing on whether to enact a mandate for students to receive at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
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Photo: Getty Images