By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A local state representative has filed a bill this legislative session that would prohibit governments and businesses from requiring coronavirus vaccinations, or any vaccination for that matter.
Rep. Dean Van Schoiack of Savannah says his measure would ban anyone from imposing a vaccine mandate.
“If they want to get it, that’s their choice, that’s fine. If they don’t, if they object to it for any reason, they shouldn’t be required to do it,” Van Schoiack tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And there will be no vaccine passports in Missouri required for anything, period.”
Van Schoiack says he pre-filed the bill after constituents came to him complaining about President Biden imposing a vaccine mandate on businesses.
“Especially after President Biden got on TV and said he was going to require all employers with over 100 employees to require vaccinations of their employees and all contractors with the government to be required to have their employees vaccinated,” Van Schoiack says. “And people started calling me saying my employer is telling me we’ve got to get vaccinated or we’re going to lose our job. What do I do?”
Van Schoiack says he knows other lawmakers have filed similar legislation. He says he doesn’t care which one gets to the governor’s desk.
“I’m thinking, hoping that we’re going to get something done this year in the legislature,” Van Schoiack says. “That’s something that should be done on the legislative level not by executive fiat.”
Van Schoiack supports the action of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt who has joined 11 other states in filing a lawsuit against the mandate issued by President Biden. The president has issued a requirement that businesses with more than 100 employees require their workers get vaccinated against COVID-19. The president also has extended the mandate to all federal contractors and health care companies that receive Medicare dollars.