Tennessee legislature to pass religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination as vaccine rollout plummets: The Tennessean
Editor's note: this story has been updated to clarify how the bill would apply to hospitals.
A Tennessee proposal prohibiting the government from mandating COVID-19 vaccination and allowing religious exemptions cleared the Senate 20-8 Thursday, despite concerns the bill could lead to heightened vaccine hesitancy.
The House passed the same measure 72-20 last week. The bill is expected to head to Gov. Bill Lee's desk after the House goes through a procedural move to have its version match the Senate.
The proposal would prohibit state and local authorities from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine, although no governments in Tennessee have signaled desire for a mandate. It would also allow people to waive the vaccine out of religious beliefs or "by rights of conscience" even during a pandemic.
The legislation would not apply to students at public universities and colleges studying in the medical and health care field, or students at any health care facilities. The bill also would not cover private businesses, although many have suggested they will not mandate the vaccine anyway.
But under the legislation, public K-12 schools would be prohibited from mandating COVID-19 vaccination. The bill would still allow hospitals to mandate the vaccine among their employees and allow for religious exemptions, as granted under federal law.
Governments would also not be able to mandate the vaccines even if they are fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the future.
Supporters argue the bill champions religious freedom and individual rights to make medical choices. The issue, however, invited criticism from Tennessee Department of Health officials as well as other health care professionals, who fear the bill would encourage anti-vaccination attitudes and lead to another surge in infections.
The measure gained momentum as Tennessee's vaccination rollout — one of the slowest in the nation — has fallen drastically. Authorities statewide have moved to loosen regulations, and Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency in the state.
Infections have remained low in the state, but demand for vaccines stalled as vaccine hesitancy has persisted among some Tennesseans — particularly Republicans. Lee and Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said they hope to launch a media campaign in the next months to battle hesitancy and misinformation about vaccine safety.
Supportive lawmakers cite misinformation, individual rights
But misinformation has come from within the walls of the legislature.
Sen. Janice Bowling, who sponsors the legislation, previously argued COVID-19 vaccines could cause genetic modification — a theory debunked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bowling, R-Tullahoma, also downplayed the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday morning by falsely claiming data shows the disease is "no longer a pandemic." The deadly disease, which has killed almost 570,000 Americans and more than 12,000 Tennesseans, has remained a pandemic since the World Health Organization made the declaration March 2020.
Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, said Wednesday he believes a healthy diet could deter the coronavirus. He said 70% of the COVID-19-related deaths were linked to obesity, whereas data from the CDC shows only 20% of the deaths nationwide were linked to diabetes.
"Obviously, they are getting too much food or the wrong food," he told lawmakers Wednesday. "I think if you've got your weight right, and your lifestyle right, and your diet right ... I don't think this virus will bother you."
Others, such as Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, said the bill would allow people the right to choose what's best for their health. A similar measure championed by him had failed in a House committee earlier in the session.
"People have chosen, on their own, with the data in front of them, to say, 'I know what's best for me and my family,'" said Pody, who, without much success, sponsored a bill this year allowing men who impregnate women to veto an abortion.
Knoxville Republican: 'All they do is perpetuate COVID'
The bill drew bipartisan concerns on the Senate floor Wednesday. Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, attacked the measure as one that could undermine the state's progress during the pandemic.
Briggs unsuccessfully pushed to remove the "rights of conscience" language from the bill Wednesday. Briggs, along with Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, joined Democratic senators in voting against the initiative.
Briggs appeared to cite a Supreme Court case from 1905 when the court upheld state authority to implement vaccine mandates. The court, he said, recognized the right of government to protect the community from public health threats, unless the regulations pose a "plain and palpable invasion" of rights.
"The COVID vaccination does protect us. It does allow us freedom, it does allow us to pursue happiness," he said. "There is a substantial benefit that it protects the public health. There is no plain and palpable invasion of your rights, which is arbitrary and unreasonable."
Briggs, a physician, attacked other measures seeking to restrain government control over public health emergencies. Lawmakers filed a slew of bills this year cutting back government authority over COVID-19 regulations, including mask mandates, social meetups and church gatherings.
"Now we are passing bills that say on our citizens, we are not going to allow them to have the freedom from fear of catching a terrible disease," he said. "We've probably have a dozen or more bills that have been brought before this body, that all they do is perpetuate COVID. I don't know of a single bill that we've had that makes the situation better."
Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said Thursday the law could lead to unintended consequences as the threat of the pandemic still looms. Variants of the virus are still spreading globally, he said.
"We don't know the future here," Yarbro said.
Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, said 700 health care workers have signed a letter by the Tennessee Public Health Association opposing the legislation.
"This threatens their lives," she said. "They have to deal with the public health realm with individuals on a daily basis to serve our communities."
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