We asked NC Senate candidates their stance on companies requiring vaccines

Most of the leading candidates to be North Carolina’s next U.S. senator aren’t yet publicly saying whether they think more companies should mandate COVID-19 vaccinations.

Just one, Democrat Erica Smith, said employers mandating vaccinations “feels like an important next step in ending this pandemic and strengthening our economic recovery.” Others say businesses should make their own decisions, but none went as far as Smith to recommend a vaccine requirement for in-person work.

Smith is lagging in fundraising — she pulled in more than $110,000 in the second quarter, compared to the $700,000 and $1.28 million of her strongest Democratic competitors — but has established herself as the most openly progressive candidate in the field. (Quoting her grandfather, she told a crowd in Gastonia last month, “The only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill.”)

While there’s been no proposal to institute a government mandate for vaccines, the issue of even private business owners requiring shots is politically thorny. Even personal endorsements of the vaccine have been tricky territory for some conservatives whose political base has remained skeptical of the shots.

Over the weekend, hundreds of people, some of whom are healthcare workers, protested in Charlotte over Atrium Health’s new coronavirus vaccination policy. A similar protest took place on Friday in Durham, over the vaccination policy at three Duke Health hospitals. Novant Health, based in North Carolina, also has said all employees must get shots soon.

After a tumultuous year for many small businesses, owners may be hesitant to follow suit, fearing backlash from vaccine-shy employees. Other than the hospitals, many of Charlotte’s largest employers have held off from requiring in-person workers to become inoculated to the virus.

“It is a big ask,” said Rett Newton, the mayor of the coastal town of Beaufort, who is also running as a Democrat for Senate. “You’re likely to lose some of those employees based on the current environment.”

Though the Delta variant of COVID-19 is more contagious, serious cases among vaccinated people are still extraordinarily rare; about 99% of recent COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations in North Carolina have come from unvaccinated people, according to Atrium Health infectious disease expert Dr. Katie Passaretti.

Newton said on vaccines mandates, “I don’t think we’re there yet,” adding that he believes most decisions on whether to get vaccinated will come from the family level, not businesses or corporations.

On Thursday, Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration issued guidelines recommending that private companies either mandate the vaccines or require their unvaccinated employees to wear face coverings and be tested for the coronavirus every week.

Democrats on vaccine mandates

The Charlotte Observer asked the campaigns of Smith, Newton, Democrats Jeff Jackson and Cheri Beasley, and Republicans Pat McCrory, Ted Budd and Mark Walker what the candidates think of businesses requiring employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to in-person work environments.

Smith gave the strongest support for workplace vaccine mandates.

“Both the virus itself and the economic repercussions of the pandemic are disproportionately harming BIPOC communities and working families,” Smith said in a statement, using an acronym that refers to people of color. “We already have (non-COVID) mandated vaccines for public schools and we’ve seen in other countries the difference mandating this vaccine has made.”

Few countries have mandated vaccines for all adults, though several in Europe and Asia are requiring healthcare workers to get vaccinated, and some require the shots for anybody who wants to enter a public, closed space, like movie theaters, cafes or trains.

Those local hospitals receiving some pushback for their new vaccine policies have made a similar argument, saying the shots should not be seen as any different than the other vaccines they already require, including those for measles, chicken pox and the flu.

Dory MacMillan, a spokeswoman for former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, said the candidate “continues to strongly encourage people to get vaccinated to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the communities they live in,” adding that the number of new cases in North Carolina is rising.

On mandates, Beasley “believes that it is for business owners to decide whether to mandate vaccinations for employees, and that taking safety precautions not only keeps people safe but helps our economy.”

Jeff Jackson, a state senator from Charlotte, also stopped short of urging companies to mandate vaccines.

“Businesses have the legal right to condition employment on receiving a COVID-19 vaccine if employees don’t have a medical exemption,” Jackson said in a statement. “For the sake of their staff and customers, I’m sure that an increasing number of businesses will exercise that right.”

Republicans on vaccine mandates

Among conservatives, the debate over vaccine mandates often revolves around the autonomy of business owners versus the freedom of workers to choose.

Jonathan Felts, an advisor to U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, who received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, said Budd “believes business owners should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding vaccination mandates,” but did not comment on whether they should.

“Operation Warp Speed is one of the greatest achievements this century and the resulting vaccine, delivered in record time, is the reason America is reopening again,” Felts said in a statement, referring to Trump’s vaccine development program. “Ted Budd is vaccinated and encourages everyone to strongly consider vaccination.”

An advisor to former N.C. governor and former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory said in a statement: “Businesses should make sure there are reasonable exceptions to vaccination programs, said Jordan Shaw, “to address employee concerns around HIPPA, privacy, and legal implications raised by recent court rulings.”

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker said in a statement that, “No American should have barriers to work and provide for their family.”

He went on to criticize the continuation of unemployment benefits that were extended during the pandemic, and added that vaccine mandates “would ultimately lead to inequitable obstacles to work for communities of color and the already economically disadvantaged.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 10:02 AM.

Will Wright

The Charlotte Observer

Will Wright covers politics in Charlotte and North Carolina. He previously covered eastern Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader, and worked as a reporting fellow at The New York Times.