Fact Check: J.D. Vance Once Said Nurses Should Be Fired If They Didn't Get COVID-19 Vaccine?

Claim:

An authentic tweet from J.D. Vance said: "American hospitals are overwhelmed. It's time to take this seriously. As a start, let's fire thousands of nurses who refuse to get the vaccine. That will help."

Rating:

Correct Attribution ( About this rating? )

Context:

Vance did state in a 2022 tweet that firing nurses who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine was a solution to overcrowding in hospitals. However, the statement was meant to be sarcastic.

On July 15, 2024, an X user posited that former U.S. President Donald Trump's running mate in his 2024 reelection bid, Sen. J.D. Vance, had posted in 2022 that nurses who refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine should be fired:

(X user @ShannonJoyRadio)

It's true that Vance posted the following on X on Jan. 14, 2022: "American hospitals are overwhelmed. It's time to take this seriously. As a start, let's fire thousands of nurses who refuse to get the vaccine. That will help."

(X user @JDVance1)

However, it's clear, given Vance's well-known opinions about vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, that the tweet was meant to be taken as sarcasm.

Vance wrote a guest column for The Columbus Dispatch in August 2021 admonishing Ohio State University for its vaccine mandate:

We're all members of The Ohio State University community--either as alumni, students, or parents--and we're outraged that Ohio State will impose a vaccine mandate on its students. This is a mistake, an invasion of medical privacy, and a complete bait-and-switch, and we urge the university to reconsider.

…

Some of us have received the vaccine and others haven't; some of us have encouraged friends and relatives in high risk categories to receive it. But the decision to not get vaccinated is often rooted in caution about long-term risks, not a rejection of science or the severity of COVID. That caution must be allowed in a free society, not stamped out through mandates.

Forbes Breaking posted a clip from a Facebook Live event that Vance hosted on YouTube in October 2021, in which he again voiced his opinion that "we should not be requiring people to take the vaccine."

We live in a country where informed citizens get the right to make decisions for themselves and their personal lives and their government lives and when we should be trusting people enough to reason with them to level with them to make arguments and let them make a decision about what they want to do with these vaccines.

In sum, Vance did write that nurses should be fired if they refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but that quote is clearly sarcastic in the context of Vance's previous statements about vaccine mandates.

Sources:

Forbes Breaking News. JD Vance: "We Should Not Be Requiring People To Take The Vaccine." 2021. YouTube , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hW40gYgc5U .

Vance, J.D. "American Hospitals Are Overwhelmed. It's Time to Take This Seriously.  As a Start, Let's Fire Thousands of Nurses Who Refuse to Get the Vaccine. That Will Help." X.Com , 14 Jan. 2022, https://x.com/JDVance1/status/1482011325085667331 .

Vance, J. D. "J.D. Vance: Ohio State's Vaccine Mandate Is Outrageous 'Invasion of Medical Privacy.'" The Columbus Dispatch , https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/letters/2021/08/27/j-d-vance-ohio-state-vaccine-mandate-outrageous-invasion-medical-privacy/5609943001/ . Accessed 16 July 2024.