Poll Shows Half of American Workers Support Vaccine Mandates

COVID-19 regulations are still becoming an increasingly controversial point of contention. Yet a new study by the AP indicates the majority of Americans are in favor of mandatory vaccines. 

A poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 59 percent of remote workers support vaccine requirements in their own workplaces, compared to 47 percent of people who are currently working in person. Only about a quarter of total workers—in person and remote—are opposed to any form of vaccine requirements. 

These numbers are similar to mask mandates. 50 percent of Americans working in person are in favor of mask regulations and almost 60 percent of people working from home want masks to be a requirement. Just 29 percent of people opposed the idea. 

The results of the poll come after the FDA fully approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. Several private companies—like Goldman Sachs—used the approval to require their employees to get vaccinated. As expected, there are people working for these corporations who do not want to get the shot. While some companies have threatened them with possibly losing their jobs, Delta Airlines responded by raising insurance premiums for people who choose to go unvaccinated. 

“The average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost Delta $50,000 per person,” the airlines CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement on Wednesday. “This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company. In recent weeks since the rise of the B.1.617.2 variant, all Delta employees who have been hospitalized with COVID were not fully vaccinated.”