ABC News 4 | July 13, 2021
“There’s very good evidence that mandates increase vaccination coverage significantly,” explained Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. “I think it’s very unwise of the states to do that [pass laws against mandates]. I think it will result in more people being hospitalized and dying.”
The current laws prohibiting vaccine mandates are so limited that it’s not clear they will have a widespread effect. Most states do not have any limitations on COVID-19 immunization policies at schools or other private entities and many of the new state laws do not ban employers from requesting vaccination information. However, Gostin worries the small handful of laws “could have a chilling effect on employers wanting to risk using a mandate.”