Georgia state senators voted Tuesday to permanently block schools and most state and local government agencies from requiring people to get vaccinated against COVID, the Associated Press reported, in the latest move to scrap such a mandate. The Georgia Senate voted 31-21 in favor of the bill, which would make permanent what had been a one-year ban enacted in 2022.
The 2022 ban was part of a conservative nationwide backlash against the mandates that were aimed at preventing the spread of the virus. It was set to expire June 30 if not extended by lawmakers. Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta Democrat, said the majority is “fundamentally signing on to the anti-vaccination movement” and tying the hands of government should COVID-19 again worsen. “We know that there’s been a movement building in America to demonize vaccinations and do it in the name of individual rights,” Orrock said, as the AP reported. The Georgia vote comes after New York City scrapped its COVID vaccine requirement for public-sector workers and California dropped one for schoolchildren. It also comes as U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline. On May 11, President Joe Biden plans to end the twin emergencies the federal government had declared in order to manage the pandemic.
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