On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) commented on Florida ending vaccine mandates by stating that Colorado doesn’t have any and he opposes mandates “because you have to win over people’s hearts and minds to be able to empower them with the ability to make the healthcare decisions that are in their own best interests.”
Host Chris Hayes asked, “You have said before that your view, you’re pro-choice, basically, on vaccines and you’re sort of skeptical of mandates. Obviously, Florida just announced that they’ll be getting rid of all vaccine mandates for their public schoolchildren. Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Polis answered, “We don’t have mandates here in Colorado for kids. We have a simple opt-out form. We strive to get the highest vaccination rate we can. We have goals in educating parents, educating kids. People should want the vaccines against measles, against lots of different conditions, because it’s good for your kids. I vaccinate my kids. I encourage everybody to do that. So, Colorado has had no mandates, as far as I know, ever. And I oppose efforts to do that because you have to win over people’s hearts and minds to be able to empower them with the ability to make the healthcare decisions that are in their own best interests. And that’s been our path in Colorado, and we’ve been able to increase the vaccination rate through that work.”
Hayes then asked if vaccination rates in Colorado are falling like in the rest of the country, Polis responded that “after COVID-19 and some of the propaganda against vaccines, primarily from the political right, led to small decreases in vaccination rates” in the whole country. “So, we’re working hard to get those back up. I think that, frankly, when you have governors going after vaccines, or federal officials, it casts even more doubt in the minds of the public.”
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