Joe Scarborough Implores Biden to Have ‘Reagan Moment’ And Enforce Mandatory Vaccines for Teachers
Joe Scarborough implored President Joe Biden to take a short-term political hit for the greater public health good and make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for every public school teacher in America.
The Morning Joe co-host returned from a week off as the nation faces a resurgent coronavirus pandemic, particularly for those who have thus far refused the vaccine. As Fall approaches and local communities prepare for schools, Scarborough compared Biden’s current situation with Ronald Reagan’s handling of a strike of air traffic controllers who he threatened to fire if they walked off their jobs, and then followed through with that threat.
“Joe Biden needs to make the tough choice right now, and he needs to start in his own political backyard,” Scarborough said. “He needs to tell the teachers’ union that he’s going to require every public health care person to get it, but also… every public school teacher needs to be vaccinated.”
Teacher’s unions have been vocal in expressing their concerns about the public health risks from schools and Covid-19, which Scarborough cited. “If you remember last year, they kept saying, we can’t go back to school, earlier this year, we can’t go back to school until we’re all vaccinated.”
“The president of the United States needs to say, ‘if you are a public school teacher or you teach at a public university, as a condition of your job you have to get vaccinated,'” Scarborough said. “We are not closing school this fall. Children will not be staying at home this fall looking at zoom classes. They’re going to be in (school) because their teachers are going to be vaccinated.”
“You know, Ronald Reagan did this with air traffic controllers,” the Morning Joe host continued. “People thought it was going to be controversial, but a funny thing happened. Americans actually respected the fact, overwhelmingly, that a politician made a strong decision that many people thought was going to be unpopular. ”
“Well, we have something much greater at stake now, and that is again keeping America open in the fall. Keeping our schools open in the fall,” Scarborough summed up. “It’s time for Joe Biden, it’s time for Democrats, it’s time for serious Republicans to start ignoring the ground noise and start focussing on the signal.”
Previously in the show, Scarborough conceded such a move would cause a political firestorm in the culture wars but cited an old oil filter ad slogan: “pay me now, or pay me later.” The short-term political hit now, Scarborough argued, would be well worth the long-term public health benefits.
Watch above via MSNBC.
