Jefferson City, Missouri (AP) — In Washington, Democratic, four members attended the house of 98 members this week. Anyone working there must be tested for COVID-19 three days a week and present evidence of vaccination (including booster shots) to step into the house floor.
In contrast, the Republican-led Parliament in Missouri launched a fully face-to-face session without COVID-19 screening in the Capitol, without the need for vaccination or wearing masks. A week after their session, legislators have already submitted about 30 bills that ban, block, or provide vaccination requirements exemptions.
Various approaches highlight a permanent interpartisan gap in pandemic policy. The state will begin its third year of legislative assembly, with many expecting a reduction in virus outbreaks, but with a surge to near peak levels of hospitalization due to Omicron variants.
Many Republican-led legislative members outlaw vaccine obligations and prevent pandemics, as some democratic-led state legislators meet remotely due to new COVID-19 concerns. We are starting a 2022 session to roll back the plan.
“We were effectively drawn into two different camps with two different realities,” said the Managing Director of the American Public Health Society, who described “intellectual disability” as “extremely disturbing.” Georges Benjamin said.
“In many respects, data on vaccines, masks, and all of these are somehow backed up as a substitute for the role of government,” Benjamin said.
Political divisions that began over government-ordered closures, social distances, and mask obligations in the early stages of the pandemic have turned government vaccination as the primary means of fighting the virus that killed more than 835,000 people in the United States. I proceeded as I did.
Republican legislation against vaccination mandates is driven primarily by rules from President Joe Biden’s administration, COVID-19 for large and medium-sized employers, health care providers, and federal contractors. Vaccination or regular inspection is required. Many Democratic governors also issue vaccine or testing requirements to civil servants, medical facilities, schools, or day care centers.
Although not always preventing illness, vaccines have proven effective in reducing severe COVID-19 cases that lead to hospitalization and death. Republican opposition is primarily rooted in the libertarian ideology.
Branson Republican Missouri Brian Seitz said, “It’s not an American to inject something into your body as a condition of employment so that you don’t get fired or unemployed.” rice field. “It tends towards socialism, communism, and any other principle you want to talk about.”
Seitz has submitted a bill banning the mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers, banning the government from trading with entities that require vaccination, and the right of individuals to refuse vaccination and wear masks. is created. Other Missouri bills prohibit schools from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine and hold employers accountable for injuries resulting from vaccination requirements.
Similar bills are pending elsewhere. After the bill was passed in November last year, making it easier for employees to refuse to comply with vaccine obligations, some conservative Republicans in the Kansas legislature went even further with employers to do so. I want to forbid imposing obligations.
Vaccine legislation has caused internal divisions in some Republican-led states.
Republican Governor Eric Holcomb and Republican Senate leaders are opposed to the bill, saying it is misleading the decision of private companies, but the Indiana State Capitol’s Fast Way Act is COVID at work- 19 Will significantly limit vaccination requirements. Some Ohio Republicans continue to call for a ban on vaccinations, despite warnings from GOP fellow Governor Mike Dewein to veto.
The question of whether to ban companies from mandating vaccines is also expected to be a hot topic when the Oklahoma State Assembly is convened next month.
Senator Pro Tempore Greg Treat, a Republican member of Oklahoma City, said: “I very much believe in the rights of individuals, and I also very much believe in the rights of companies to do business that seems appropriate.”
Despite a hearing on Tuesday, a law banning compulsory COVID-19 vaccination from the Republicans in Maine for five years faces a sharp confrontation in the Democratic-led parliament in that state. The hearing was held via a video conference. This is a practice that is more common this year in Democrat-led states than in Republicans.
The 400-member New Hampshire House was convened last week at the hotel’s Expo Center instead of its room to spread parliamentarians, but a majority of Republicans refused to allow remote participation. At least two lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19 a few days after the first session of the session.
Former New Hampshire Speaker Dick Hinch has been one of eight lawmakers who have died of COVID-19 in various states since the pandemic began. More than 500 state legislators have been infected with the virus, according to the Associated Press, but the actual number is almost certainly high, as some legislatures have not publicly confirmed the case.
In democracy-led Massachusetts, the Capitol is not yet open to the public after legislative leaders closed the building to everyone except lawmakers, some staff, and the press at the start of the pandemic. Since then, the legislature has been largely online. Legislative leaders have announced plans to move forward towards resumption by requiring proof of vaccination to work in the building or by showing medical or religious exemptions.
In Vermont’s Democratic-led parliament, one of the first actions in 2022 was to approve a remote session due to the surge in cases of COVID-19. Legislators also swiftly passed a bill that would allow local governments and school districts to pass budgets without having to meet in person.
In Washington, Republicans voted against the COVID-19 protocol adopted by the Democratic-led legislative committee. Senate policy allows more members to enter the floor than the House of Representatives, but limits direct attendance to 15 of the 49 Senators. The rest will be relegated to remote participation. Senators and staff, whether vaccinated or not, must test negative for COVID-19 before entering the Senate room. Since Friday, at least five senators have tested positive.
The goal of the restriction is “to make the operation of the Senate as secure as possible,” said Andy Billig, the majority leader of the Senate in Washington.
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Indianapolis Associated Press writer Tom Davies. John Hannah in Topeka, Kansas. Steve Leblanc from Boston. Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington. Sean Murphy from Oklahoma City. Holly Lamar in Concord, New Hampshire. Wilson Ring in Montpilia, Vermont. Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio. Patrick Hittle in Portland, Maine contributed to this report.
Partisan division on COVID policy spreads in state legislature | WGN Radio 720
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