'Vaccine discrimination': Ohio House GOP propose wide 'exemptions' to vaccine requirements

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Republicans in the Ohio House next week are likely to take up first hearings on bills that would ban "vaccine discrimination" and so-called "vaccine passports" in Ohio, cutting a wide list of exemptions through any public or private requirements to receive a COVID-19 shot.

House Bills 248 and 253 together would accomplish those goals. HB 248 is especially broad in creating a list of exemptions that would preempt any requirement to receive a vaccine. Under the bill's language, anyone may decline a COVID-19 shot and circumvent its requirement at any location, by verbally listing a medical exemption, "natural immunity," or a reason of conscience such as religious beliefs.

By citing such exemption, the person could gain entry to any place that claimed to require a COVID-19 vaccination — including a private business, a sports stadium, concert venue, state agency or state-run facility, and more.

"It's not our job to tell people what to do," said Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria), one of 15 Republican co-sponsors on the bill authored by Rep. Jennifer Gross (R- West Chester).

"There are people like myself who don't even get the flu shot. I don't want to put anything into my system that's unknown," Rep. Creech said on Wednesday.

Governor Mike DeWine (R) has already established many times, even before COVID vaccines were shipped to Ohio, that the state would not require anyone to receive a COVID-19 shot. However, DeWine has said that private entities and employers would be left to their own decisions on whether to require the shot.

While HB 248 would not expressly prohibit any employer or private business from requiring a shot, the bill's language would ensure those entities could not "discriminate against, deny service or access to, segregate, require a facial covering or other vaccination status label for, or otherwise penalize an individual financially or socially for declining a vaccination."

HB 253, with similar GOP support, would ban the state from requiring proof of vaccination to gain entry to Ohio itself, or to any state-owned or operated facility or agency.

Some public health policy experts see the bill as a partisan signal to voters, rather than a serious matter of policy.

"I think it's political opportunism more than anything. There's no public health basis for this," said Dan Skinner, a professor of public health policy at Ohio University. "There's very little talk about mandating the COVID-19 vaccination for anybody. Public health people don't want to mandate. They want to message; they want to persuade, they want to listen to what people concerns are and help them understand. Public health is all about education."

Skinner said by authoring a bill that only reiterates what he believes are common-law protections, the Ohio House GOP may hurt those education efforts by sowing doubt in the minds of constituents.

"This isn't about them trying to solve a problem...they are willing to sacrifice public health for ideological reasons," he said. "Get your vaccine. It's worth it."

The states of New York and Hawaii are both currently developing a "vaccine passport" system, which could be used to gain easier access to large events or bypass required quarantines upon entering those states.

Rep. Rodney Creech said Wednesday that the bills are designed to prevent such measures in Ohio, and should not be seen as "hurting" vaccine education efforts — rather, as an affirmation of personal liberty.

"For those that choose not to get the vaccine, they don't have to," Rep. Creech said Wednesday. "We need to respect people's bodies, their religious freedoms and choices...we would never tell a business they can't ask their employees to get a vaccination.

"All we're saying is: if they say 'no'...you can't discriminate," he said."