COVID vaccine mandates caused a backlash against vaccines in general. The mandates did increase the number of people who took the original COVID vaccine, but the ensuing backlash against the mandates resulted in fewer people taking the booster shots, and resulted in people avoiding vaccines other the COVID vaccine. This decline in vaccination rates will increase illness rates for things like measles and the flu.
A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms this backlash and how it is reducing vaccination rates:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some US states mandated vaccination for certain citizens. We used state‐level data from the CDC to test whether vaccine mandates predicted changes in COVID-19 vaccine uptake, as well as related voluntary behaviors involving COVID-19 boosters and seasonal influenza vaccines. Results showed that COVID-19 vaccine adoption did not significantly change in the weeks before and after states implemented vaccine mandates, suggesting that mandates did not directly impact COVID-19 vaccination. Compared to states that banned vaccine restrictions, however, states with mandates had lower levels of COVID-19 booster adoption as well as adult and child flu vaccination, especially when residents initially were less likely to vaccinate for COVID-19. This research supports the notion that governmental restrictions in the form of vaccination mandates can have unintended negative consequences, not necessarily by reducing uptake of the mandated vaccine, but by reducing adoption of other voluntary vaccines.
Many of these coronavirus vaccine mandates were imposed by administrative agencies, rather than legislatures, and thus were of dubious legality. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s mandate that most workers in the U.S. either be vaccinated for COVID; or wear masks and undergo regular testing. It found that was beyond the authority of the administration to impose, absent Congressional authorization. The Supreme Court did uphold a separate vaccination requirement for health care workers, though.
The mandates also angered people who had already had (and recovered from) COVID and felt they didn’t need to get vaccinated because they already had natural immunity as a result — especially people with health conditions.
