Kentucky bill would ban mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for work, study, or healthcare

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKRC)- Kentucky Senate Bill 295 states that the Covid-19 vaccine cannot be required for anyone to be a student or participate in any extra-curricular activities, you can't be required to get the vaccine for a job or to maintain a professional license, and that you can't be required to get it to receive health care services.

For example, a doctor couldn't refuse to treat you if you didn't get a vaccine.

State Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (R)-Smithfield sponsored the bill. Tichenor said that people shouldn't be forced to get vaccinated if they don't want to. She said that an employer, for instance, shouldn't be able to dictate your health decisions.

"Data from the CDC's Vaccine Adverse [Effects] Reporting System (VAERS) shows that the Covid-19 vaccine has the highest number of adverse events and deaths. More than any other vaccine combined since the launch of the government authorized system," Tichenor said.

However, the CDC and FDA stated that what Tichenor claims is misleading.

Hamilton County Medical Director Dr. Steve Feagins said that the reporting system is used to see if there's any correlation between an adverse event and the vaccine.

"It's for everybody, not just for clinicians, or pharmacists. It's for everybody, for anything that happens, that may or may not be related to a vaccine. It may not even be related in time to receiving a vaccine," Hamilton County Medical Director Dr. Steve Feagins said.

The VAERS website clearly states that just because there's a report of a bad reaction or death, doesn't mean the vaccine caused the event.

This bill doesn't just prohibit requirements around the current vaccine, it would ban any future Covid vaccine requirements in the future.

"We have no understanding guys, of what this virus is going to look like two years from now, what it's going to look like 10 years from now, and to say under no circumstances can we require even healthcare professionals [to be vaccinated?] It's a danger to our patients if we go in there with communicable diseases," State Sen. Karen Berg (D)-Louisville said.