Report Inappropriate Comments

What does The Law Actually Say about Vaccine Mandates?

Law professor explains What’s Currently Allowed and How Those Laws Might Change

By Elizabeth Dohms-Harter, July 22, 2021, Wisconsin Public Radio.

Can government forcibly require you to get vaccinated in the U.S.?

The reality is, legally, no, you can't be forced to take a vaccine. You're not going to be physically restrained and given a vaccine by any legitimate public health authority in the U.S. at the federal, state, tribal and local levels.

But that's not the same as a vaccine mandate.

A vaccine mandate means we're setting a condition on you returning to society or participating in a particular activity. And that condition is you're vaccinated.

States are setting vaccine mandates and private employers are doing the same because they can, legally. That's very distinct from a compelled vaccine. So you want to return to work. You want to go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You want to attend your school (if you're eligible for a vaccine). States are setting vaccine mandates and private employers are doing the same because they can, legally. That's very distinct from a compelled vaccine.

Now, how far can we go with that? Very far. The U.S. Supreme Court has even affirmed that we can set vaccine mandates at the state or local level. So right now, we have Supreme Court precedents allowing that to occur.