Fauci: ‘There should be more’ local vaccine mandates

“There’s no reason not to get vaccinated. Why are we having red states and places in the South, that are very highly ideological in one way, not wanting to get vaccinations? Vaccinations have nothing to do with politics. It’s a public health issue,” he said.

Fauci said he believes there is some hesitancy of vaccine requirements on the local level because the coronavirus vaccines have not yet been fully approved by the FDA, but instead were authorized for emergency use by the agency. “I think when you do see the official approval, Jake, you’re going to see a lot more mandates,” he said.

In April, Fauci told the POLITICO Dispatch podcast that the federal government would not require vaccine passports to show proof of Covid-19 vaccinations for travelers or businesses, but that he expected businesses and schools might require them.

“I’m not saying that they should or that they would, but I’m saying you could foresee how an independent entity might say, ‘Well, we can’t be dealing with you unless we know you’re vaccinated,’ but it’s not going to be mandated from the federal government,” Fauci said on the podcast April 5.

The Biden administration reiterated this week that it has no plans to issue a federal mandate for schools, businesses or states to require the vaccine.

The public remains split on the issue. A new POLITICO-Harvard survey showed that Americans are sharply divided along party lines on whether schools or most private employers should require coronavirus vaccinations, with Democrats supporting a government-issued document certifying their vaccination status, and Republicans opposing the government or most businesses mandating a vaccine passport of any kind.