Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on ABC’s “This Week” that officials should avoid using the word “mandate” when discussing requiring the COVID-19 vaccine.
Emanuel said, “I would not use the word mandate.”
He continued, “Call it a requirement, a requirement to participate in the rest of the economy that is opening up.”
Emanuel added, “Look, the first 60% you can do in masks. The last 40% you have to do strategically. I would not use the word mandate. We’re requiring this for X access to the economy. You have to think about people in that way. I think that whether you take public employees — as I said, health care workers should lead. They have to get vaccinated. You get federal dollars for research at universities. Students and employees have to be. You start setting requirements for the rest of society. The other piece I would add, it’s part of your national pledge. The one thing he said, and you can see happening, as the variant gets more dangerous, the population it affects starts to go down the age group. We’re going to get to a time where one of these variants beats the vaccine. The question is can we beat the variant?”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.