What Andrew Zimmern Really Thinks About Vaccine Mandates For Restaurants

Andrew Zimmern is not one to shy away from using his social media platforms for expressing his political beliefs. So, it should not surprise anyone to learn that he voiced his opinion on the idea of a vaccine mandate on Twitter as well. "It's overdue!" he exclaimed. "This is a deadly global pandemic and like many other requirements in life (school shots, car insurance to drive, licenses to hunt etc) there should be vaccine mandates AND education for all who refuse. Most un-vaxxed I speak to simply don't have proper info."

This outburst was prompted by a Forbes article about the results of a Gallup poll that showed 61% of Americans supported a vaccine requirement for boarding a plane. This is a slight increase over the 57% that believed this in April. Other pro-mandate shifts include hotels with 53% support, dining out was also 53%, and attending festivals with 58%. Of course, those who have already been vaccinated tend to favor these mandates more than those that have not.

As you might imagine, Andrew Zimmern's support for a mandate on Twitter was broadly met with the usual talking points about how the vaccine does not work, that photo IDs should also be required then, and how there are other treatment options for those that refuse vaccination. "If you are vaccinated, you're protected," one wrote. "If not, they know what the outcome can be for them. It's each individual's personal choice." However, that last comment goes against what the medical community has said about the pandemic. 

As The Guardian wrote in July, the clusters of unvaccinated people could serve as breeding grounds for new mutations of COVID-19, of which the Delta variant is just one. Dr. Michael Saag, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, explained that "The virus needs people to infect in order to replicate and the more people it has that are vulnerable or susceptible to infection, the more likely it will mutate." These mutations could make COVID-19 more lethal than it already is or even immune to the vaccine. So, why Zimmern and others want the mandate is to ensure that the already devastating disease does not worsen.