vaccine mandate

There are arguments for and against the idea that anyone should be required to get vaccinated.  We did start out thinking that it would be a matter of individual choice and that, while the government and the various organisations that had some influence in this decision-making would work to convince people that vaccination was the way to go, no one would be forced to get the jab.

 However, it became clear that there were certain groups who were passing on the virus more than others.  Health workers, both in hospitals and in locations where people were at greater risk from the virus, were carrying COVID-19 to the sick and the elderly and the immuno-compromised.  They needed to be vaccinated for the sake of their patients.  Construction workers were travelling across cities and spreading the virus as they moved around.  They also needed to be vaccinated.  And so the state governments finally came to the point of mandating vaccination for specific groups.

 While vaccine mandate (or even vaccination mandate) is the formal term, jab mandate is the colloquial one.