Republicans maneuver to block vaccine mandates

[Zorro]

Republicans maneuver to block vaccine mandates, undercutting a policy widely seen as an effective tool to end pandemic

As covid-19 roared back in Florida over the summer, Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded like a champion of vaccines, declaring that the shots were “saving lives” and that the risk of death while vaccinated was “effectively zero.”

But in recent days, as President Biden and public health experts have embraced broad vaccine requirements as a necessary tool to combat the spread of the coronavirus’s highly infectious delta variant, DeSantis has shifted his focus — devoting much of his time to battling any business or government agency that would require workers to get the shot.

“These big government mandates strip away people’s rights to make the best decision for themselves, but we are going to protect Floridians from federal and local government overreach,” the governor said last week during a stop in Gainesville to denounce that city’s employee vaccine requirement.

DeSantis’s hard-line stance has become the prevailing view of the Republican Party, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also stepping forward to oppose local mandates in their states in the name of protecting individual liberty. In the hotly contested race for Virginia governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin said in a debate last week that “individuals should be allowed to make that decision on their own,” while on Sunday Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, whose state leads the country in covid deaths per 100,000 residents, warned on CNN that the country would be in “deep, deep trouble” if a president has “unilateral authority” to impose vaccine requirements.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-attacks-on-vaccine-mandates-undercut-crucial-tool-to-combat-pandemic-experts-say/2021/09/20/20efc558-18ad-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. They're hoping to kill more Americans