During the Q&A portion of Dawn Richardson’s presentation at the Informed 2020 Conference hosted by Informed Choice Iowa, Richardson was asked for her thoughts on the possibility of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate — similar to a mask mandate. Richardson is the director of advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center. Here is what she said:
Right now the Governor could enact a mandate and if you refuse vaccination they can determine your quarantine status and could even in some instances possibly force vaccination. However, this is extremely unpopular. Could it happen? Absolutely. I think we missed the boat on the mask. But make no mistake, testing and vaccination, they’re both invasive medical procedures that can cause injury or death. It’s a much stronger thing that we need to push back on.
If they don’t do it at the state level, local health authorities have power in state law to enact control measures. Vaccination is part of control measures. It’s another level you have to protect against.
If no government official mandates that, we have soft mandates — your ability to participate in society. One example, my daughter recently had to go into the hospital for a procedure. They wouldn’t perform the procedure until they shoved that swab in the back of her nose.
The threat of the possibility of vaccine mandates to receive health care to be admitted into a health care facility. Costco could say, they’ve already done masks, you have to on your membership show your vaccine status. The company that is contracted with TicketMaster is called Clear. It might seem familiar to you. The private commercial version of TSA is called Clear. That easily translates to you can’t get onto a plane without a vaccine. The governor might not force anything, local people might not force anything. But you may find yourself in a situation because of pressures and people thinking they’re doing the right thing to require vaccination and testing as conditions of participating in society.
