Vaccines should be a choice, not a mandate or requirement for public life

 OCA President Chris Long and State Rep. Jennifer Gross discuss the challenges of vaccine mandates for many Ohioans. The COVID-19 vaccine should be a personal choice, not mandated or a requirement for employment. Ohioans are already losing their jobs over this issue in hospitals and health care systems across Ohio. The same people that were heralded as heroes last year on the frontlines of treating COVID patients are now ridiculed and shamed and driven from their jobs simply because they have chosen not to take the vaccine. Many of them have already had COVID and recovered and are immune to the virus.  OCA press statement

Gross is the sponsor of House Bill 248, which prohibits mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and allows for individuals to have three exemptions to all vaccines.

“We cannot allow the COVID-19 vaccination to become a condition for participation in public life,” said Gross. “Mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, in any circumstance, are prohibited and all three exemptions shall be offered to all Ohioans for all vaccinations.”

Gross notes that Ohioans continue to face employment termination, loss of raises, forced masking and forced weekly COVID-19 testing due to employment mandates related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Tragically, the freedoms of Ohioans are being encroached upon as they are now being forced to choose between their personal healthcare choices, their livelihood, and their education,” Gross added. “It is our duty to protect the freedoms of our Ohio citizens. The time to act is now!”  Click here for Rep Gross's press release