Vaccine mandates are critical to fighting the pandemic and they might be chipping away at hesitancy

[Brexiter]

A new Axios-Ipsos survey suggests that making it significantly more onerous to function in public as an unvaccinated person might actually be chipping away at stubborn vaccine hesitancy. The poll found that opposition to getting the vaccine had dropped to its lowest levels yet.

• Only one in five (20%) Americans say they are not likely to get the coronavirus vaccine, the lowest level since we started tracking. Hard opposition, those not at all likely, has dropped to 14% of adults.
• The number of parents who say they are likely to get their kids vaccinated has surged over the last week, now two-thirds (68%) report they are likely to vaccinate their kids or they already have. Opposition to vaccinating their kids has dropped to less than a third (31%) of parents.

The 20% of respondents who still say they're unlikely to get the vaccine has dropped from 34% in March and 23% two weeks ago.

Cliff Young, the president of Ipsos U.S. Public Affairs, believes the drop in hesitancy is less about vaccine conversion and more about the simple realities of living in a world that is compelling people to grapple with the greater issue of public health.

"Schools, organizations, companies, governments implementing mandates are forcing people to deal with them," Young said. "That's what going on."