Vaccine Mandates Outlawed In PA? GOP Pushes New Bill

PENNSYLVANIA — Although Gov. Tom Wolf has said no such mandate is being considered, legislators have introduced a bill to prohibit both the state government and employers around Pennsylvania from implementing vaccine mandates.

Senate Bill 471, the Medical Freedom Act, comes amid a season of intense debate over the role of government in pandemic response, as well as continued vaccine hesitancy in pockets of the population around the country.

"The ability to make decisions about what goes into our bodies is a basic human right," State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-33) wrote in a co-sponsorship memorandum. "This personal autonomy is challenged whenever any level of government requires mandatory vaccinations.Indeed, inserting needles into a human body is the very definition of intrusive."

However, no statewide mask or vaccine mandate is forthcoming anytime soon from the Department of Health, according to recent statements from Gov. Wolf.

"Different municipalities are going to handle it differently," the governor told the KDKA morning radio show in Pittsburgh. "The state's strategy is the vaccine."

Specifically, the bill notes that "all vaccination decisions should be between a patient and their physician, including the right to informed consent, or informed refusal."

Mastriano said it was about state overreach.

"Pennsylvanians are perfectly capable of making our own health and safety decisions," he wrote. "We do not need government intrusion in our lives."

Democrats have been quick to call out inconsistencies.

"Wouldn't the new PA Medical Freedom Act restrict military and VA standards?" York County state representative candidate Chris Rodkey said. "Would it give prisoners right to refuse a death by injection? Does it leave room for legal agency and voluntariness, as a constitutional amendment?"

Although Mastriano initially proposed the bill in Dec. 2020, it was not brought before the Senate floor until last month. It passed out of the Health and Human Services Committee by a 6-4 vote.

While Pennsylvania is not considering states have been far more aggressive in their response. New York has issued an indoor mask mandate. Nearby, New Jersey's school mask mandate will be in place through at least Jan. 11, and New Jersey is apparently considering a similarly indoor mandate statewide to New York.