This is sad. Mandating something to work IS mandating it.
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Work places mandate things all the time: steel toe boots, hair nets, drug tests, advanced degrees, experience, certificates, background checks, hard hats, licenses, etc. People can choose to meet the requirements of a job or look for another one.
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Why shouldn’t we mandate something that would save hundreds of thousands of lives, keep businesses open, keep people out of the hospital, let people safely go on vacation, allow the economy to recover, and save millions of dollars in future medical costs? We’ve mandated more for less.
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Let me just chime in and say that many of us in healthcare have been mandated to get an annual flu vaccine for YEARS. And it’s really NBD. We do it because it’s the right thing to do.
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This is a very interesting point I hadn’t considered. My husband runs several local car dealerships and he is having an incredibly hard time hiring people right now. It’s absolutely bonkers. And it’s not just for minimum wage jobs either.
Not sure who “we” is. But in the long term, sure we may see a mandate something similar to the flu vaccine.
In the short-term, a big hesitation is that the covid vaccine in not fully approved yet by the FDA. Also, many people would choose natural immunity over the vaccine if they have had covid in the last year.
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I think they should get on this. More people have been vaccinated than have had Covid. We have the data we need to give full approval.
As for the “we”, I would actually be in favor of mandating federally, though I think that would create more backlash than it’s worth. Better for employers to do that.
When I say I don’t think people should be “forced,” I mean literally taken by authorities and held down and given the shot, or put in prison if they refuse.
But short of that, I think vaccine mandates for a vaccine that has been thoroughly tested and is safe and effective is totally appropriate. We wouldn’t have gotten rid of polio, smallpox, etc. if that hadn’t been the case.
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There are blood tests to look for immunities for other diseases. Pregnant women are tested for titers for measles or rubella (can’t remember which) to determine if they need a booster. So, I would think that employers could look for immunity through other means but they still might require it. I remember one job I had to have TB test.
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It’s in priority review now.
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I think FDA approval will make a big difference for some people.
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Super close.
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I agree, but I also think some ppl will just find another reason once it’s approved too 
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Also, b/c I had mumps 2x (once on rt and yrs later on lft) and measles when I was a kid I’ve never had to have the MMR shot, but the CDC says having Covid doesn’t prevent future infection and that the vaccine does. So, employers might still req. the vaccine.
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I used to work in a hospital in an administrative job that was not patient facing. Before starting work there I had to have a negative TB test. And every year at flu shot time the public health nurse would come to EVERY department (repeatedly, if necessary) and would track down EVERY person in the department to give them a flu shot. Not getting the flu shot was not an option if you were working there. People are acting like companies mandating things like vaccines is some new thing. It’s not.
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Well, yes. That’s why I said some. I think some people are simply unwilling to get it at this point. Most of my friends and family have, myself included. My husband hasn’t and two of my best friends haven’t (one of them is in health care) and don’t plan to. We won’t be vaccinating our kids either.
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My tiny town (roughly a square mile) had one “nice” restaurant, a deli, and one pizza joint when we moved here just under 25 years ago. Happily, we had quite the restaurant renaissance and pre-COVID there were easily 20+ places to eat with all kinds of choices, pizza, coffee shops, ice cream, wine bar, breweries (2), sushi, taqueria, plus high end Italian, BBQ, French, steak house, etc.
Since March of 2020, we have worked hard at supporting our local eateries. We ordered take out 1-2x/week (picking it up ourselves), did outdoor dining in the fall, and starting to go back inside over the last few months. Last summer the town shut down the main street two weekends a month and all the restaurants dragged tables into the street and did a great job w/ outdoor dining.
While I know first hand that many of the restaurants are hiring (dd is a server at one), they are doing okay otherwise. Over the last 1.5 years our small town w/ all those restaurants only lost one …and their location here was their second so they just consolidated back to their main one. Additionally we have SIX new places that opened since the beginning of COVID, and they all seem to be doing well.
Interestingly, 4 large chain restaurants (Applebees/TGIFridays (2)/Ruby Tuesdays) within a 15 minute drive from us have closed. We also tried to take dd out for her birthday last week (a Wednesday…not a hopping dining out night) to a chain restaurant she likes and were looking at 1.5 - 2 hour waits to be seated due to lack of staffing.
From what we have observed locally (Philly suburbs) the smaller, more local restaurants are struggling a bit for staff but doing okay…but the large chains are definitely hurting much more.
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Yikes. What current vaccine would this be compared to that is federally mandated? Certainly it should not be forced on children at this early stage of the disease. Also, it’s very likely that it will become endemic and cause only minor illness long term.
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Nothing current. Once in a generation pandemics? Yes. Smallpox, polio, etc.
It should only be given to ages that have been approved.
Like I said, my support of a federal mandate is only theoretical. I see nothing morally questionable about it and believe it would be beneficial to our society. But I don’t think it’s a good idea because there’s so much opposition to government doing things right now so it would cause more trouble than it’s worth.
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I think I disagree with you on this point in general but this particular sentence is absolutely on point. If half of the population isn’t willing to get it currently, forcing it on everyone seems like a recipe for civil war. Which typing that out….that seems a bit extreme but honestly….I could see it happening.
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Just last week we had our vacation at Universal Studios Fl. for 7 nights. Two of the days we came back from the parks to a room that had not been touched. I complained to Customer Service and was told that they were short on staff and the quality of staff had declined. They also state that during covid the staff would not enter the room if anything was left out on dressers or the bed. There was a list of about 15 things that gave the staff reason not to do cleaning but nowhere was it posted or mentioned at check-in. Now here’s the thing. I paid over $300 a night for that room but now got no services for it. If the services were going to be absent then state that ahead of time and reduce the price. I am sorry but for that type of money I expect services of resupply and making up the bed. It has already become policy to no longer change linens for your entire stay. This was at Universal and Customer Service said it should not have happen as covid policies had ended. According to my travel gent WDW is doing the same with no services. I am glad I bboked the cheapest resort (POP) as anything more would be wasted money. Again, no warning or policy announcements before booking or check-in. 
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