Stephanie Ruhle Calls on Airlines to ‘Pay the Government Back’ by Mandating Vaccines

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle said Wednesday that corporations could “pay the government back” by mandating Covid-19 vaccines.

She made the comment during a panel discussion with Andy Slavitt, a former senior adviser on Covid-19 to President Joe Biden, and CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin, who said the “only way to change the dynamic” with respect to vaccination rates was “to have a requirement.”

“If you can’t walk into a Walmart or work at a Walmart without a vaccination, especially in states where there is a hesitancy, that’s going to actually change the dynamic,” Sorkin advised. “If you can’t get on an airplane without a vaccination, that is going to change the dynamic. The airlines took an enormous amount of taxpayer money… We have all supported them, and there has been very little support on the other side.”

Slavitt noted that United Airlines “wanted to do that,” referring to its effort to mandate vaccinations for pilots, but that it faced “a ton of opposition.” The airline eventually acquiesced to its pilots’ union in opting against a mandate for current employees, though it is requiring new employees to be vaccinated.

“They have to deal with customers, they have to deal with employees,” Ruhle acknowledged. “They wouldn’t have either one if the government hadn’t given them billions and billions of dollars last year. So maybe they could pay the government back and say, yes, we’re going to help try to get people vaccinated.”

Watch above via MSNBC.