Jackson Clarion-Ledger
Reeves calls Biden vaccine mandate 'shocking attack on personal liberties'
By Sarah Haselhorst
Mississippi's governor and Republican U.S. senators are pushing back against the Biden Administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on some workforces.
In early September, President Joe Biden ordered employers with 100 or more workers to be entirely vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the coronavirus. Also, Biden's six-pronged plan instructs all federal employees and government contract workers to be fully vaccinated.
Gov. Tate Reeves said in a Tuesday social media post he's working with the Mississippi attorney general on a lawsuit against the Biden Administration vaccine mandates. A day later, Mississippi senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith announced they have joined a Congressional Review Act challenge intended to halt the requirement that private businesses enforce COVID-19 vaccines for employees.
"President Biden exceeded his authority in his rush to force the vaccines on the American people,” Hyde-Smith said in a Wednesday news release. “I believe the COVID-19 vaccines save lives, but I also trust the American people to make the best medical decisions for themselves and their families at this point in the pandemic.”
Since the coronavirus crept into Mississippi in March 2020, it's taken the lives of over 10,000 residents, including nine children and 15 pregnant women. Nearly 88% of the COVID-19-related deaths have been in unvaccinated Mississippians.
Still, Reeves said in his Tuesday post Biden's vaccine mandates "one of the most shocking attacks on personal liberty" he's seen in his lifetime. He called the mandates "nothing short of tyranny."
Vaccine mandates, however, aren't novel. Public school children and college students in Mississippi require up-to-date vaccination records. Mississippi's kindergarteners are some of the most highly vaccinated children in America, because the state doesn't allow religious exemption claims.
On Monday, the White House issued vaccine guidelines for federal contractors, indicating contractors will have flexibility in how they enforce the vaccination requirements for workers who refuse to get the shot. It could include religious and health-related exemptions.
"A covered contractor should determine the appropriate means of enforcement with respect to its employee at a covered contractor workplace who refuses to be vaccinated and has not been provided, or does not have a pending request for, an accommodation," the Monday guidance read.
Further instruction from the Biden Administration for workplaces with more than 100 employees is expected later this week. According to Hyde-Smith's Wednesday news release, the Congressional Review Act will be filed immediately after the guidelines are released.
To combat what Reeves called "ridiculous overreach," he wrote the best path forward was to file a lawsuit alongside Attorney General Lynn Fitch. He said the lawsuit would be filed by the end of the week.
"Although the federal government has not followed through on a single threat, many institutions across the country have acted rashly out of fear of losing federal funds," Reeves wrote. "They should be reminded that the state of Mississippi will not be in the business of subsidizing or supporting institutions that fail to go out of their way to respect at least these basic human rights."
As of Wednesday, 43% of the state was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according the Mississippi State Department of Health.