Sen. Kruse has introduced SB 74 which would require employers to employ someone who refuses immunization if the employee claims to have a religious objection or a medical condition that makes the immunization problematic. The bill provides that workplace immunization requirements can’t be applied to a person “if the immunization is medically contraindicated for the employee or prospective employee, or if receiving the immunization is against the employee’s or prospective employee’s religious beliefs or conscience.”
It authorizes a civil suit with damages that would include actual damages, punitive damages, court costs, and attorney fees.
Empowering anti-vaxxers and discouraging widespread vaccination is a bad idea. Exempting legitimate medical conditions from having to get immunized makes sense, but you’d want some kind of process for making sure it was a legitimate concern — not a made up medical condition or a quack doctor.
It is a shame that a bill of this nature is required. As United States citizens we should already possess free choice over medical interventions. Every Hoosier should have the right to make their own personal health choices. It is not about anti-vaxxers – it’s basic civil liberty.
I believe this is aimed at hospitals who currently require their employees to get vaccinations like the flu vaccine for the health and protection of not only their employees, but more importantly the patients they serve.
If you want to be a nurse and don’t want to get a vaccine mandated by your employer, go find somewhere else to work or start your own hospital. Make sure you advertise that “our staff doesn’t believe in science”… and let the free market decide.