State Senator Angela Hill has introduced Senate Bill 2107, legislation that would give the state's parents the ability to use a religious exemption to opt out their children from vaccine mandates imposed by the State Board of Health. However, her bill is being held up by the chairman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, Democratic State Senator Hob Bryan – who was appointed to that leadership position by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, the presiding officer of the Senate.
Rob Chambers is vice president of policy and legislative affairs at the Mississippi-based American Family Association.
"What we see in plain sight here is a Republican, statewide official – Delbert Hosemann – working with the Democratic Party to kill legislation like this one that would grant religious liberty to people who want freedom from compelled vaccinations," he summarizes.
A group known as Mississippi Patriots for Vaccine Rights and Medical Freedom isn't happy with Hosemann – and has launched an online petition telling the state's second-in-command to urge Senator Bryan to pass the bill out of his committee before February 1.
Chambers – who says the group's "political outrage" is valid – believes Hosemann has bought into the lies about COVID-19 being pushed by the left.
"We have a body politic that is inoculated from what I believe is conservatism," he tells AFN. "They are following the dictates of liberal policy that has no basis in fact – even no basis in scientific fact."
Hill, the state senator, tells AFN she has never confronted Hosemann over his support for Sen. Bryan but suspects it is because the lieutenant governor supports expanding Obamacare and Medicaid in the state.
Hill predicts her bill will never get out of committee as long as Bryan is the chair.
Chambers urges all Mississippians to call their state senators.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
1/31/2022 - Comments from state Sen. Angela Hill added.
