A Gallup poll showed one-third of Americans would decline to receive a free coronavirus vaccine, but Virginia's state health commissioner says he plans to make it mandatory.
Virginia's state law is like many others that give authority to the health commissioner if the governor declares a public health emergency.
Virginia's health commissioner, Dr. Norman Oliver, told WRIC-TV in Richmond on Friday that as long as he remains in his position, he will mandate the coronavirus vaccine.
"It is killing people now, we don’t have a treatment for it and if we develop a vaccine that can prevent it from spreading in the community we will save hundreds and hundreds of lives," Oliver said.
The state law allows only people with a medical exemption to opt out.
Oliver said he strongly opposes a bill under consideration by the Virginia General Assembly that would allow an exemption for religious reasons.
A Gallup poll conducted July 20-Aug. 2 found 35% of Americans would not get the vaccine even if a vaccine were FDA-approved and available at no cost.
The poll found only 19% of Democrats don't want to be vaccinated, 41% of independents and 53% of Republicans.
Some are concerned about the speed of development. Vaccines normally take years to become available on the market, but a coronavirus vaccine could be ready as early as the first quarter of 2021, according to White House coronavirus task force adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"We would not launch a campaign around mass vaccination with anything that hasn’t proven to be safe," Oliver said.
WRIC spoke with Kathleen Medaries, spokeswoman for the non-profit Virginia Freedom Keepers, who said the issue is a matter of medical choice.
"This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. It's not a pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine issue," Medaries said. "For me, it’s an issue of being able to assess each vaccine for myself and my family one at a time."
Oliver argued public health takes precedent over choice.
"He shouldn't be the one person to make a decision for all of Virginians," Medaries responded.
'As mandatory as you can possibly make it'
Last week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would make a coronavirus vaccine mandatory for his nation's 25 million citizens.
"We're talking about a pandemic that has destroyed the global economy and taken the lives of hundreds of thousands all around the world," he said.
Morrison said getting the shot ultimately must be "as mandatory as you can possibly make it."
"We need the most extensive and comprehensive response to this to get Australia back to normal," he said.
His nation already requires innoculations against polio and tetanus for children to be enrolled in schools.
In the United States, the religious-liberty organization Liberty Counsel has warned that programs for mass vaccinations may be voluntary only in name.
Officials, they warn, could ban people who choose not to be vaccinated from traveling, shopping or even leaving their homes.
In a petition campaign, Liberty Counsel points out mandatory vaccinations set up a conflict between a government's responsibility to take reasonable actions to protect public health and "a deeply personal decision of faith and/or medical necessity."
"Just as the government has no right to force us to worship as they dictate, neither does the government have the right to force Americans to inject our bodies with unknown, and potentially untested, substances," the organization contends.
Many Americans object to forced vaccinations, but a "voluntary" program could have the same effect, Liberty Counsel says.
"Mandatory vaccination will likely not mean that jackbooted government agents will hold you down and force a needle into your armm," the group says. "Rather, if world news reports are accurate, your life will be made so uncomfortable without taking the vaccine that you will find that you don't really have much of a choice. The playbook for how this will roll out is already on full display in several countries around the world."
In India and China, "tracking and tracing" programs already are being used to control peoples' movements.
"Before being allowed into any building, including offices, grocery stores and even pharmacies, users must display their COVID app status to officials or their deputies monitoring the doors," Liberty Counsel says.
Billionaire Bill Gates is touring the world promoting the idea of a "digital health certificate," which the European Union already is considering.
While President Trump has opposed mandatory vaccinations, some governors are in favor.
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