“While it may be tempting to provide more flexibility for people not to be vaccinated and be tested instead, this would just delay the inevitable. The financial and logistical cost - as well as the human lives that could be lost - (of) allowing people to opt out of vaccines and get tested instead would be immense.” Holly Mitchell is a Los Angeles County Supervisor for the 2nd District (since 2020), she is a former California State Senator and Assemblymember, holds a BA from the University of California, Riverside - credentials from legislative work, policy advocacy, and nonprofit leadership (including as CEO of Crystal Stairs) that include exactly zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. Her base salary as supervisor is approximately $244,000, with total compensation higher. She offered full support for the Board’s ratification of the county employee vaccine mandate covering more than 100,000 workers, warning that a testing alternative would merely “delay the inevitable” and cost lives, and declared that the board was “challenged to follow the science.” She co-introduced the 2022 motion (with Sheila Kuehl) that shifted disciplinary authority to the county personnel director so non-compliant employees - including those in the sheriff’s department, where rates lagged below 60 percent - could be disciplined or terminated. She also hosted equity-focused vaccination clinics and press events in South Los Angeles, partnered with community groups for hard-to-reach sites, and repeatedly used her platform and media briefings to push first doses, boosters, and uptake while dismissing historical medical distrust as inapplicable to the COVID shots. A career politician with no medical training who lectured county workers that testing would cost human lives, insisted the board was simply following the science, then backed a rule change aimed at firing the unvaccinated in departments that refused full compliance. The same supervisor who noted her own district’s poorer vaccination rates and pushed “disproportionate investment” in South LA clinics remains in office, still carrying the identical lack of relevant medical credentials she used to decide the testing option was delay and the mandate was inevitable. The former state senator who said opting for tests would cost lives never earned a medical degree to decide the county’s workforce had no more time for flexibility.

“Me, as the chief of police, I’ve been pushing vaccinations. That’s the way we’re going to end this pandemic and the city is moving toward mandates.” Robert Luna is the Los Angeles County Sheriff (since December 2022), formerly Long Beach Police Chief (2014–2021), and holds a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Long Beach, plus standard law-enforcement academy and executive training credentials (FBI National Academy, etc.) - a 36-year police career that includes exactly zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. As Long Beach chief his total compensation exceeded $270,000 in peak years; as sheriff the salary is higher still. As Long Beach chief he publicly pushed vaccinations as the path to ending the pandemic while his own department’s rates lagged (around 57 percent of officers fully vaccinated as of late 2021). When he announced his run for sheriff in December 2021 he explicitly pledged to fire Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies who refused to comply with the county’s vaccine mandate - contrasting himself with the incumbent who refused to enforce it. Weeks later, while still chief and vaccinated, he tested positive for COVID-19, isolated at home, and the department released a statement that he believed his symptoms “could have been much worse if he were not vaccinated,” using the breakthrough to urge the rest of the force to get the shots. A career cop with no medical training who declared vaccinations the way to end the pandemic, threatened to fire the unvaccinated, then caught the virus while vaccinated and immediately turned the mild case into another advertisement for the shot. The same chief who oversaw a department with notably low vaccination rates won the 2022 sheriff’s race on that platform and remains in office, still carrying the identical lack of relevant medical credentials he used to promise terminations. The longtime police chief who said he’d fire the unvaccinated decided other people’s medical status was a firing offense.

“We must put our faith in science and medicine to bring this emergency to a close. Health experts have been working diligently on the vaccination effort. I have faith in the process that requires careful scrutiny to ensure the safety of all Americans.” Byron Brown, the former Mayor of Buffalo (2006–2024), holds a BA in political science and journalism from Buffalo State College plus an executive certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School - credentials from politics, journalism, and government that include exactly zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. As mayor his salary was roughly $178,500; he is now President and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting at a reported $295,000. He publicly pledged to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on television and social media “to promote confidence in the vaccine’s safety,” then did so, joining the pattern of high-profile figures getting the shot on camera. He repeatedly urged residents - especially young people - to get vaccinated to “protect yourself, protect your family, your friends, and our community,” partnered with state officials on pop-up and community sites targeting underserved areas and youth, and encouraged (though did not require) vaccination and masks for large public events such as the New Year’s Eve ball drop. He also isolated after a close contact while only partially vaccinated. The long-serving mayor with no medical training who used City Hall’s platform and the camera to treat a personal medical decision as a public-confidence ritual and a community duty, then exited the job for a higher-paid off-track-betting post. The same politician who told Buffalo to put its faith in science and get the shots never needed a medical degree to decide the message or the optics - and the city he governed for nearly two decades still saw the usual waves, breakthroughs, and ongoing debate after the campaign. A journalism major who got the shot on TV never needed a medical degree to tell a city to trust the process.

“Tonight @KyrieIrving (soon followed by MLB) is working despite refusal to get vaccinated, while other workers in NYC were fired for doing the same. The vaccine mandate was and is the right thing to do, helping to both bring cases down and protect against future variants and waves.” Jumaane Williams is a New York City Public Advocate and holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Urban Policy and Administration from Brooklyn College - credentials from community organizing, tenant advocacy, and politics that include precisely zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. Fully vaccinated and boosted, Williams tested positive in December 2021 with mild symptoms during the Omicron wave, then used the breakthrough to post “So please vax up, mask up & test!” while quarantining away from his pregnant wife. He called for statewide expansion of indoor mask advisories, insisted vaccine mandates require full vaccination rather than one dose, urged the state to adopt the city’s indoor-venue vaccine screenings, pushed for more remote work and testing, and later joined a call for a full COVID vaccination requirement for students returning to school the following fall - labeling the existing mandates “the right thing to do” even as athletes like Kyrie Irving faced different treatment. An activist-turned-advocate with no medical training who still caught the virus after the shots and the booster, then immediately leveraged his own mild case to demand still more coercion, exclusion, and statewide replication of city rules. The “right thing” that was supposed to protect against variants and waves did not stop his infection or the surge, yet he kept the script from the Public Advocate’s office while drawing a six-figure salary and remaining in the post. The political-science master’s holder who said the mandate was the right thing remains without a medical degree and the authority to decide other people’s medical futures.

“Big news being lost in the craziness this week: NYC’s vaccine mandate for public sector workers is in full effect, 92% of staff now vax’d, and all City services are operating without significant disruption. So yes, vaccine mandates work.” Mark Levine is a former New York City Councilmember (Health Committee chair), later Manhattan Borough President, and now City Comptroller who holds a BS in Physics from Haverford College and an MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School - credentials from teaching, nonprofit work, and politics that include exactly zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. As Health Committee chair he repeatedly demanded expansion of vaccine mandates beyond schools and hospitals to NYPD, FDNY, EMS, corrections, childcare, and other agencies, calling them “absolutely necessary” and proof that “mandates are proving that they work.” He posted charts labeling the unvaccinated as the driver of case rises (“You want to be part of the orange group. Get your vax NOW”), called for renewed indoor mask mandates even for the fully vaccinated, labeled the U.S. Open’s lack of requirements “extraordinarily reckless,” and celebrated high post-mandate compliance rates while urging still more requirements. The non-scientist who became the “Anthony Fauci of the New York City Council”: a physics major with a public-policy master’s used his platform and committee power to treat personal medical choice as a public failure requiring exclusion and pressure. Fully vaccinated and boosted, he still contracted COVID (including around the time he became Borough President, with relatively mild but “knocked down” symptoms) and immediately used the breakthrough to reinforce the same narrative. He left the Council for the Borough Presidency in 2022 and is now Comptroller, still carrying the same zero relevant medical credentials he used to declare that mandates work. The Harvard public-policy grad who said mandates work never needed a medical degree to decide other people’s medical status.

“I’m vaccinated & encourage others to do their own research. The final decision MUST be left to the individual, NOT the government. It’s called #freedom.” Dan Patrick is the longtime Texas Lieutenant Governor and former conservative radio host who holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and nothing more - no medical degree, no scientific training, no epidemiology or public health credentials of any kind. His background is broadcasting and politics. In 2021 he publicly confirmed he was vaccinated (later boosted), encouraged voluntary uptake and “research,” and repeatedly stated that people have an individual right to refuse without force from government or employers. At the same time, on Fox News he claimed the “biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated,” blamed Democrats for low rates in that community, and positioned Republicans as encouraging shots without mandates - comments fact-checked as inaccurate in absolute numbers, where unvaccinated white Texans formed the larger pool. He led efforts to block federal vaccine mandates and supported state policies against local requirements. The radio voice who insisted on personal choice got the shots and the booster, then tested positive for COVID twice (January and July 2022) with mild symptoms both times, underscoring the limits of the product he had taken while still using his platform to assign group blame for case surges. A pure broadcaster with zero relevant expertise waded into public-health narratives and racial tallies from the second-highest office in Texas, all while Texas maintained some of the nation’s lightest mandate policies - and he remains in the job drawing that token salary. The man who sold freedom over force still caught the virus after the jab, proving that voluntary compliance doesn’t rewrite biology.

“If New Yorkers attend an entertainment or sporting event they must provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine. But New York City grants special privileges to out-of-town anti-vaxxers like Joe Rogan and NBA star Bradley Beal. This loophole puts the health of New Yorkers at risk, so I’ve introduced the FAIR Vaccines Mandate Act to close it. Our message is simple: Get jabbed or get outta town.” Brad Hoylman-Sigal is the former New York State Senator (now Manhattan Borough President) who holds a BA from West Virginia University, an MPhil in politics from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, and a JD from Harvard Law School - credentials from a career as a private-practice attorney and general counsel that include exactly zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. In 2021 he publicly received shots (including participating in an NYU vaccine trial and later booster trial), then introduced legislation requiring COVID vaccination for all New York college students and for schoolchildren once fully approved, sponsored a bill to close the NYC vaccine-mandate loophole for out-of-town performers and athletes, and floated a 1% “anti-vax tax” on higher-income unvaccinated adults he labeled “free riders” who weren’t “taking the responsible approach.” He helped constituents schedule appointments, authorized pharmacists to administer the shots, and had previously led the push to eliminate religious exemptions for school vaccines. A non-scientist with Ivy League credentials used the Senate to push mandates on students, performers, and the general public while modeling compliance himself and proposing to tax those who declined. The “get jabbed or get outta town” line and free-rider framing treated personal medical choice as a civic failure deserving exclusion or financial penalty - despite the absence of any relevant expertise. He left the Senate at the end of 2025 for the Borough Presidency, still carrying the same zero public-health qualifications he used to write the bills. The Rhodes Scholar who said get jabbed or leave town never needed a medical degree to decide other people’s medical decisions.

“I got my COVID-19 vaccination and I urge you to get yours… The science is clear the vaccines are safe and exceptionally effective at protecting you from the virus… we all have a personal responsibility to eradicate COVID-19 as quickly as possible.” Sharon Weston Broome is the former Mayor-President of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish and she holds a BA in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse and an MA in Communications from Regent University - credentials from a career as a local TV reporter and politician that include precisely zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications. In February 2021 she publicly received her first dose on camera at a community clinic to “lead by example,” especially targeting Black residents, then rolled out PSAs, high-school vaccination drives for students 16+, free Uber/CATS rides, pop-up clinics, and equity task forces while amplifying claims the shots were “close to 100% effective at saving your life.” She warned residents they had “one more chance” to comply with masks, distancing, and restrictions or face a return to Phase 1 lockdowns, partnered with health systems on distribution, and framed refusal as a failure of personal responsibility even as she stopped short of a full private-sector city mandate. A communications major with a reporter’s résumé used the full weight of the mayor’s office to normalize pressure and “eradication” duty for a novel product whose transmission-blocking claims later collapsed under breakthroughs and boosters, while the economic and social costs of the restrictions she enforced piled up. Voters delivered the verdict in December 2024 by ending her tenure; she now operates as a private speaker and consultant under Sharon Broome Communications with no government salary and the same zero relevant expertise she brought to the pandemic podium. The mayor who demanded personal responsibility to end the pandemic ended up personally responsible for losing her job.

“Vaccine hesitancy has been real and justified, but not anymore. … In this moment the best way to serve Shreveport, to protect Shreveport, is to get vaccinated and encourage those around you to do the same.” Adrian Perkins served as mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana (2018–2022). He holds a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, plus service as a U.S. Army captain (Bronze Star, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan). He has zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications - his background is military leadership, law, and municipal politics - yet he used his office to drive vaccination pressure across the city. In July 2021 he issued a mask advisory for indoor public settings and joined health officials at press conferences urging residents to “get vaccinated or mask up,” citing rising cases and framing the unvaccinated as the primary driver of hospitalizations. He sent letters to city employees and business leaders stating that “we will continue to lose an unaffordable amount of lives and commerce if we don’t get vaccinated,” and that asking employees to get the shot was “critical.” The city launched a $100 incentive program for first doses at community events. He publicly pleaded with residents and set up a mayoral vaccination challenge with another Louisiana mayor. A West Point graduate and combat veteran with no clinical training treated a novel medical product as the decisive civic duty, then tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2021 while the city reimposed indoor mask rules in municipal buildings. Breakthrough cases continued, the early “99 percent unvaccinated hospitalizations” framing was later revised, and the social and economic pressure fell on ordinary residents rather than the mayor. He left office in 2022 and is currently the Senior Vice President at Prospect Park, a Chicago-based merchant bank. The captain who earned a Bronze Star overseas decided the best way to serve Shreveport was compliance with a shot he had no expertise to evaluate.

“I’m thankful for the protection from the vaccine/booster as it would be a different situation without them. Please continue to be mindful of safety precautions + urge your loved ones to get vaccinated + booster shots.” Steven Fulop served as mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey (2013–2026). He holds a B.A. from Binghamton University, an M.P.A. from Columbia University, and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern, plus service as a U.S. Marine Corps corporal. He has zero medical, scientific, epidemiological, or public health qualifications - his background is finance, military service, and municipal politics - yet he used his office and platform to promote vaccination and publicize his own shots. In January 2021 he publicly received the vaccine, citing family health history and community safety. In October 2021 he posted a photo of his Moderna booster with the statement that he “trust[ed] the science” and wanted protection for himself and his family. After testing positive for COVID-19 in December 2021 (asymptomatic), he attributed the mild outcome to the vaccine and booster and explicitly urged others to get both. Jersey City required unvaccinated city employees to wear masks at work; Fulop repeatedly framed higher vaccination rates as the path back to normal, while stating the city would follow statewide guidance from Governor Murphy rather than impose its own local mandates. A mayor with advanced degrees in public administration and business but no clinical expertise spent the period treating vaccination status as decisive protection, then caught the virus himself while fully vaccinated and boosted and still used the episode to pressure residents. Breakthrough infections were common, the “different situation without them” framing did not match later data on transmission and severity for low-risk groups, and the social cost of pressure fell on ordinary workers and residents. He left the mayoralty in 2026 and is now President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City. The Marine-turned-mayor trusted the science until the science included his own positive test - then he kept the sermon going.

“I’m anxious to get that vaccine just because I have family members that have health compromises. I’m out in the public everyday and I think it’s important that the mayor continues to go out, so that’s why I’m getting the vaccine.” Walter Reed Gusciora holds a B.A. in Politics and International Relations from The Catholic University of America and a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law (1988). That is the medical file: a former congressional aide, personal-injury and labor lawyer, assistant prosecutor for the City of Trenton, municipal prosecutor in several towns, adjunct professor of political science at The College of New Jersey, member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1996 to 2018, and mayor of Trenton since July 1, 2018. No M.D., no epidemiology, no immunology, no public-health degree, no clinic. The credential for declaring the first steps in eradicating a virus is a law degree and a city hall. On January 20, 2021, Inauguration Day, he sat at Trenton Fire Headquarters in a “Straight Outta Trenton” T-shirt and took the Moderna shot on camera with first responders. He told New Jersey News Network he was anxious because of family members with health compromises, that he was out in the public every day, and that the mayor needed to keep going out. He called it an exciting day for Trentonians and the first steps in eradicating COVID-19 from the city. He said the word needed to get out so people would have acceptance and less fear. Later in 2021 he joined Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh in a Mayors Vaccine Challenge to raise rates in both cities. By December 31, 2021, Trenton had reached 82.5 percent of residents 12 and older with at least one dose. The platform was a city press event and a state health competition. The training was politics and law. He took the shot on the day a new president was sworn in and told the city the needle was the beginning of the end. The product did not stop infection or transmission. He is still mayor. In 2022 the city council voted no confidence in him amid an FBI probe into records related to a lead-remediation grant from a prior administration; he called the vote a badge of honor and stayed. The residents he told needed less fear did not get a follow-up when the first steps he announced failed to end the virus. He sat for the camera so the city would follow. The camera caught the needle. The city kept the virus.