According to a survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research, workers welcome vaccine and mask mandates to prevent transmission of COVID.  The survey showed that 59 percent of remote workers favor vaccine requirements and 47 percent working in person accept the desirability of mandates.  Only 25 percent of workers, irrespective of whether functioning in-person or remote, objected to vaccine mandates.  Education has an impact of acceptability of vaccines and masks.  Approximately 60 percent of college graduates support masking and vaccination compared with 40 percent of workers without college degrees.

Since the FDA awarded the Pfizer-BioNTech product permanent approval, a significant number of companies both large and small have mandated vaccines especially for employees returning to central offices. Major employers including Walt Disney World and Tyson Foods have reached agreement with unions representing workers to accept vaccine mandates.

The survey revealed that black and Hispanic workers who do not have the option of remote work and are essentially employed in front-line occupations are overwhelmingly in favor of both vaccination and mask mandates.  An engineer who worked from home during the COVID pandemic, characterized coworkers who were reluctant to be vaccinated as "selfish".  An educator in the Midwest stated, "we get so hung up on democracy and freedom that the reality is that your freedom can't exist at the expense of someone else's loss".  She added, "we are not going to be free until we get vaccinated".