Arizona sheriff goes viral with vow not to mandate vaccines for his officers

Pinal County sheriff says he will never mandate COVID-19 vaccine

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb took to social media to say that as long as he is sheriff, he will never mandate the coronavirus vaccine. Lamb tested positive for COVID-19 last summer and said he believes he was infected during a campaign event.

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. - Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Mark Lamb went viral for his message against vaccine mandates, which are becoming a trend. Lamb said on "Fox & Friends" that mandates are the result of "weak leadership" not protecting the rights of employees, and he is leaving the decision to get vaccinated as a personal choice of his officers.

SHERIFF MARK LAMB: I did it because I'm tired of seeing weak leadership across this country and weak leadership as it relates to protecting their employees' rights. So we wanted to do something that let people know that here we don't tolerate that.

It's people's personal choice. Health choices have always been. Last year it was like pulling teeth to get a list of anybody that had COVID so that when my deputies responded to their houses, we knew who they were. Now, these same people are more than willing to give up all of your public health privacy for the sake of security. And I'm not OK with that. I don't think it should change. … I've gotten a ton of support. You get your pushback too. Some news thing called me a rebel, but I don't know, I guess that's a good thing.

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