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Turns out, Covid vaccine mandates work. Good thing more are on the way.

The risk of joblessness is driving many people to get vaccinated, even if they’re doing it begrudgingly.

As it turns out, many people who previously refused the Covid-19 vaccines are discovering that they will have to pay a great deal if they want to remain unvaccinated.

I don’t hate to say, “I told you so,” so I’ll say it: I told you so

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in August effectively paved the way for vaccination requirements across the U.S. Turns out those mandates boosted the overall vaccination rate among some groups of workers, including teachers and health care professionals.

Image: Hands of a medical professional wearing surgical gloves holding a syringe.
Bing Guan/ / Getty Images; MSNBC

The number of vaccination mandates is growing. Given the choice between joblessness and getting a potentially lifesaving vaccine shot, many people are choosing the latter — even if begrudgingly. 

After a vaccination mandate went into effect for health care workers in New York on Monday, the state reported that 92 percent of all its hospital and nursing home employees have gotten at least one shot — that’s a roughly 10 percentage-point increase among both groups. 

And never fret, America’s private industry workers. If you clock in for a nongovernmental entity, it’s highly likely that your job imposes a vaccination mandate, as well. The mandates are taking hold beyond the world of health.

After United Airlines instituted a vaccination deadline of this Monday for its employees, CEO Scott Kirby said this week that 98.5 percent of its roughly 67,000 employees have been vaccinated.

Some states — including Maine, Rhode Island and Washington — will require vaccinations for health care workers beginning next month. Others — like Oregon and Colorado — will implement mandates for health care professionals later next month. 

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the New York City school district — the country’s largest — can require its employees to get vaccinated.  On Wednesday, the San Diego Unified School District — California’s second-largest school district — announced a requirement that all eligible students and staff be vaccinated by December. 

On Sept. 9, President Joe Biden said the government will require that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated and that all private employers with 100 or more employees must require either vaccinations or weekly testing.

Head over to The ReidOut Blog for more.

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