Guest post by Megan Redshaw
A bombshell new study has flipped the script on COVID-19 vaccine mandates.This article originally appeared on The Epoch Times and was republished with permission. Some U.S. states mandated COVID-19 vaccinations during the pandemic to increase vaccination numbers. Yet recent research shows these governmental restrictions had unintended negative consequences and no influence on COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
A study in PNAS found that state-level COVID-19 vaccine mandates did not impact vaccine adoption during the weeks before or after the mandates went into effect, suggesting vaccine mandates did not directly affect COVID-19 vaccination.
Additionally, compared to states that banned vaccine mandates through legislation, states that required COVID-19 vaccination experienced lower levels of subsequent boosters and reduced rates of voluntary flu vaccinations.
“The theory of psychological reactance serves as one longstanding explanation for why freedom restrictions in the form of governmental mandates cause people to reject the advocated behavior or otherwise have unintended consequences,” the study authors wrote.