Fauci: ‘I Know People Must Like To Have Their Individual Freedom’ but Vaccine ‘Mandates Should Be Done’

Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledges he will “upset people” with his opinion on whether teachers should be mandated to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

During an appearance on “Morning Joe” Tuesday, Fauci was asked if he agrees with Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, who recently said he believes teachers should be vaccinated.

When asked if he thinks teachers should be mandated to get vaccinated, Fauci said, “I’m going to upset people on this, but I think we should.”

He added, “We are in a critical situation now. We’ve had 615,000 plus deaths, and we are in a major surge now as we’re going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business.”

The leading health expert explained, “You’re not going to get mandates centrally from the federal government.”

He continued, “I’m sorry. I know people must like to have their individual freedom and not be told to do something, but I think we’re in such a serious situation now that under certain circumstances, mandates should be done.”

Watch his comments below:

Some Republicans are fighting mask and vaccine mandates, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

On Monday, Cruz introduced legislation to ban mask and vaccine mandates, as IJR reported. He told Fox News, “There should be no mandates, zero, concerning Covid. That means no mask mandates, regardless of your vaccination status. That means no vaccine mandates.”

Cruz continued, “That means no vaccine passports, and I’ve introduced legislation, a bill to ban vaccine passports. This week, I’m introducing a bill to ban vaccine mandates, and this week, I’m introducing a bill to end mask mandates.”

DeSantis announced that Florida’s state Board of Education could keep pay from school leaders who enforce mask mandates for students, as NPR reports.

His spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, released a statement on Twitter.

“Ultimately — Education funding is for the students. The kids didn’t make the decision to encroach upon parents’ rights. So any financial penalties for breaking the rule would be targeted to those officials who made that decision,” she wrote.