Elizabeth Hovde of the Washington Policy Center discusses Gov. Jay Inslee’s statement that he will not ease up on his vaccine mandate on state employees
Elizabeth Hovde
Washington Policy Center
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown are often doing the two-step on COVID-19 rules and guidance for their state residents. In his press conference Friday, however, Gov. Inslee broke with Gov. Brown and said he would not ease up on his vaccine mandate on state employees.
Gov. Brown announced she is rescinding her order that nearly 40,000 state employees have to get the COVID-19 vaccine to keep their jobs, rightly noting we need to live with this virus. Oregon employees who were fired might be eligible to reapply for their old jobs. Read more in The Oregonian.
Answering a question about if there would ever be a time to abandon the mandate on government workers in Washington state, Inslee said, “We still have a deadly disease, and we still have a very high incidence in our state. We still have high hospitalization rates.” He concluded, “So today is not the day to be removing efforts to keep our people safe.” It’s interesting that he has been pointing to lower hospitalization rates and deaths as the reason why he’ll end the state’s indoor mask mandate, and now the same rates are being cited as too concerning to end his vaccine mandate.
Vaccine mandates on workers – at this point – are more than misguided. Given what we know about the virus and how it spreads, a vaccinate-or-lose-your-job policy comes across as cruel and punitive. Such mandates have wrecked life paths. Hundreds of government workers have been fired, and we’ve let go of doctors and nurses just when they are needed most.
The mandates failed to stop the spread of COVID-19, and they failed to keep vaccinated people from getting sick. Why? Science. The virus does not recognize political mandates. Vaccines do help prevent serious illness.
In his latest press conference, it seemed debatable to me which was more important to Inslee: the safety and well-being of Washingtonians or the desire to be right. Instead of adapting to how COVID-19 spreads and respectfully answering questions from the media, he attacked and blamed Republicans.
“Look,” he said, “Republicans have unfortunately failed to help us ….” He said they were continuing to do so and added, “They tried to stop us from saving lives through wearing masks. They tried to stop a way to get our people vaccinated so they wouldn’t die.” Never mind that Gov. Brown is a fellow Democrat, as are many people who have decided to try new approaches to COVID-19 in year three.
New information, science and data are not changing the governor’s mind about rules that, over time, prove misguided. I wish he’d do the two-step with Brown.
Elizabeth Hovde is a policy analyst and director of the Centers for Health Care and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center. She is a Clark County resident.
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