As COVID vaccination ramps up, state Sen. Ericksen proposes bill to prohibit requiring it
Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen on Thursday announced plans to introduce a bill that would prohibit employers, schools, state-regulated travel and public places from requiring COVID-19 vaccination.
Ericksen, R-Ferndale, said in a Dec. 17 release about the proposed legislation that he hopes to protect individual rights and freedom of choice.
“We need to stop discrimination before it begins,” Ericksen said in the release. “Already we’re hearing that proof of vaccination could be required for everything from employment to the ability to board a plane, train or bus.
“But no decision is more personal than the choice of what to inject into your own body. This legislation isn’t pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine – it’s pro-individual rights.”
Ericksen’s bill is in the drafting stages, according to the release, and he plans to introduce it before the 2021 legislative session begins Jan. 11.
Under his proposal, the release states Ericksen intends to keep the decision over whether to be vaccinated or not with each individual, and it would prohibit:
▪ Public and private employers from requiring workers be vaccinated.
▪ Schools from requiring vaccination for students to attend.
▪ Limiting access to public places and areas of business for those who have not been vaccinated.
▪ Vaccination being required for travel on planes, trains and buses.
▪ Denying anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated any rights available to those who do.
“We don’t require flu shots and we shouldn’t require COVID shots,” Ericksen said in the release. “Often people forget that our constitution puts the rights of the individual first. We shouldn’t trample on it in a rush to vaccinate.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 1:56 PM with the headline "As COVID vaccination ramps up, state Sen. Ericksen proposes bill to prohibit requiring it."
