Political Partisanship Correlates With Attitudes of South Dakota Nurses Toward Flu and COVID‐19 Vaccination Mandates for Healthcare Workers

ABSTRACT Mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers (HCWs) became a contested issue during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We examined the attitudes of South Dakota nurses toward mandatory flu and COVID‐19 vaccination for HCWs in the post‐pandemic period. Using contact information from the state regulatory body, we emailed nurses in South Dakota to complete an online survey in May 2024. We used descriptive and multivariate analysis to assess the correlates of attitudes toward the two vaccine mandates. We found that the support for a flu vaccination mandate for HCWs was higher than for a COVID‐19 vaccination mandate. Among the 1763 participants, 32% supported mandatory COVID‐19 vaccination and 57% supported mandatory flu vaccination for HCWs. Regression results showed that support for both mandates was associated with COVID‐19 vaccination status, flu vaccination status, and partisan self‐identification. Public health administrators and employers should be mindful of these issues as they design policies to increase vaccine uptake among nurses and other HCWs.