Dr. Anthony Fauci says the COVID-19 vaccine mandates work to help people get more vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Fauci, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is evidence that mandates are working in academic settings and at corporations such as airlines.
Fauci said if most of the people who haven’t gotten shots do get vaccinated, he is confident there won’t be another surge in cases.
According to data this past week from the CDC, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans getting a dose of Covid-19 vaccine has jumped to about 1 million a day, while COVID 19 cases are declining, with about 93,814 infections reported each day this past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Fauci told CNN that there will be less chance of another coronavirus surge if the unvaccinated get vaccinated, stopping the coronavirus in its tracks.
But not everyone agrees with vaccine mandates. Earlier in October, hundreds of unmasked, anti-vaccine mandate Utahns packed a hearing on Utah’s Capitol Hill, telling lawmakers to stop President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements for large employers, according to the Deseret News.
Doug Laycock, a legal scholar, believes that under current precedent, employers could make a successful case against offering any religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. However, few company leaders have taken this approach, at least in part because doing so would break political and business norms.
“Many employers and governments alike have been reluctant to challenge religious exemption claims,” Laycock wrote.
This hesitancy helps explain why some employers approve all or nearly all requests for religious exemptions to vaccine mandates. Before the pandemic, such an approach didn’t feel that risky, Laycock noted.
But experts have maintained that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the best way to stay safe from the virus and slow the spread. The coronavirus vaccine can also ward off coronavirus variants, according to recent research, which means deadlier pandemics might be stopped before they happen.