Hoosiers: Vaccination Exemption Bills Are Not Enough
Our Stand
- Hoosiers: We are pleased to see that the House filed Bill 1001, which allows us to start the discussion on how best to address the vaccine mandate issue in Indiana. We are hopeful, too, that the Senate will join them in fighting for protections for Hoosiers.
- While we are thankful that courts have put holds on the Biden Administration's federal vaccine mandates, we know that state laws are still necessary to protect everyone. We want to make sure that no workers or students in Indiana are forced into vaccinations against their will or punished as a result of their choices to forego vaccination.
- As Indiana policymakers debate the best way to go forward, we hope they will consider employing protections that go beyond the vaccine exemptions in the current bill. We feel the best way to move forward is with a non-discrimination bill, like the one passed in Montana, which provides more comprehensive protections for Hoosiers. While broader vaccine exemptions are certainly better than what is currently in place in Indiana, we think that exemptions alone provide limited help.
- With all the limitations of exemptions, and the added problem that they do not do away with discrimination, we think making vaccine status a protected class is the best remedy to this problem of vaccine mandates.