Dem Sen. Tester: Private Sector Vaccine Mandates ‘Problematic’

On Wednesday, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) acknowledged there were problems with the government mandating vaccines, as is the case with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and President Joe Biden.

Tester suggested governments should take a “carrot rather than the stick” approach.

“I haven’t looked at it Mayor de Blasio’s proposal,” he said.  “But I can tell you, just generally, Neil — I would prefer the carrot rather than the stick. And I think that we’re at a point in time and of our economy and the recovery and things that have to get done, especially with the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we passed, that we need to pay attention to what folks are telling us.”

“And I can tell you, in the state of Montana, folks are saying, business people, are saying, this — even though the owners think it’s a good idea to get vaccinated, they’re saying this puts me in a bind,” Tester continued. “So the mandate issue for the private sector does become problematic for business.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.