FACT BRIEF

Do public health experts advise against making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory?

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

By Bennett Murray

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YES

While there is a precedent for mandating vaccinations, upheld in the U.S. in a 1905 Supreme Court case concerning smallpox, public health officials generally prefer a focus on education and encouragement as COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available.

Mandates could encounter resistance amid overall mistrust, blocking the path to population-wide immunity. “I don't think the pathway to a fully vaccinated public is through mandatory vaccinations,” a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist told Axios. “I think that would actually backfire.” A World Health Organization expert agrees, advising authorities to ”encourage and facilitate."

Eventually, COVID-19 vaccines could be mandated by some local authorities or employers for certain groups like public school students or hospital workers. A premature mandate “could backfire spectacularly,” two health-policy experts warn.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Axios: Why vaccine mandates aren't an easy call

WHO: COVID-19 press conference transcript (Dec. 7, 2020)

John Hopkins: Can COVID-19 vaccines be mandatory in the US and who decides?

Harvard: Bill of Health—Why a COVID-19 vaccine shouldn't be mandatory

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