In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, host Steve Brown discusses the ongoing drama about vaccine mandates going on at the Statehouse. Ohio Public Radio reporter Jo Ingels joins the show.
Inoculating The Statehouse
Hundreds of people rallied outside the Ohio Statehouse Tuesday as they showed support for House Bill 248. That’s the measure that seeks to ban vaccine mandates. It’s obviously happening because of coronavirus, but it would apply to all vaccines, including deadly childhood diseases. The bill is opposed by business and medical groups.
Inside the Statehouse during the health committee hearing, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester), talked about how personal freedom should supersede the rights of business owners that want to require vaccines.
Rep. Beth Liston (D-Dublin), who’s also a doctor, said the bill would lead to more disease and death, and that the hearing “pandered to the conspiracy theorists and extreme groups behind the bill, giving them equal footing with health experts and the business community."
Snollygoster Of The Week
Ohio State University was already requiring masks for students during the fall semester that started this week.
On the same day that classes got underway, OSU president Kristina Johnson went a step further and said the university would require faculty, staff and students to be vaccinated following full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine. On Wednesday, she told MSNBC that students who don’t get vaccinated won’t be allowed on campus to take in-person classes.
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