Mandates on COVID-19 testing, vaccines and masks? This new Ohio bill targets them all

Fighting against COVID-19 mandates — be it vaccines, vaccine passports or masks — is increasingly a priority for many conservative Ohio lawmakers.

In what is at least the seventh active bill prohibiting such mandates, state Reps. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster, and Thomas Hall, R-Madison Township, introduced on Monday House Bill 425, arguably the broadest approach so far, targeting almost every organization and type of COVID-19 mandate.

"The (President Joe) Biden administration, what they're doing, and how they're advancing what they want, has probably spurred on the intensity of trying to get something done for the people in the state of Ohio," said Wiggam on the president's new vaccine mandate.

Unlike other proposals, House Bill 425's prohibition of mask, vaccine and testing mandates would apply to public and private schools, businesses, and governments, only carving out exceptions for hospitals and healthcare settings. 

"We can't sit here and put a dichotomy and only protect public employees and not private sector businesses," Wiggam said.

Including private entities may pose a roadblock for the legislation, given the Ohio Chamber of Commerce — which is very influential — has opposed forcing businesses to mandate or not mandate vaccinations and other requirements.

The bill follows a proposal to ban COVID-19 vaccines for public school and university students and staff, House Bill 424, and comes as House GOP leaders are working on a bill to expand exemptions for vaccine mandates.

Vaccine technology

The bill is narrowly tailored to target COVID-19 vaccines but broad enough to potentially impact other or future types of medical technology.

Individuals would not be required to take a vaccine, drug or a similar product "utilizing messenger ribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid or any other genetic vaccine technology." 

That includes the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, both mRNA vaccines. Genetically engineered mRNA is inserted to give human cells instructions to produce a certain protein, which then will trigger the immune system to produce antibodies against the virus.       

The other major COVID-19 vaccine available in the U.S. is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is a viral vector vaccine. Genetic material from a COVID-19 virus is put into a harmless virus, and upon contact with a human cell, the virus produces those same proteins to trigger the immune system. Mandating the J&J shot would be prohibited under the phrasing of "genetic vaccine technology."

There have been fears from those resistant against vaccines that they could alter one's DNA, which is untrue. The general consensus among the scientific community is that the mRNA and genetic technology is safe.

"You go out into average Ohioans, where they live... there is a major lack of trust," countered Wiggam when asked about what scientists have said. 

The proposed law could could have an effect on future vaccines as scientists increasingly look toward mRNA technology. That's the point, said Wiggam, to get out ahead of it as much as possible. 

"I think it's worthy of a conversation to have, and I want to get the experts at the table. That's the reason why we're doing this," he said.

The bill's language is less broad than House Bill 248, which bans mandates for all vaccines, but it also works around a previous bill prohibiting school vaccine requirements for shots under emergency authorization, which became moot when the Pfizer shot got full approval.

Masks and testing

The bill also prohibits discrimination for his or vaccination status. As a sort of compromise, governments and businesses have offered to require constant COVID-19 testing in place of inoculation. Wiggam wants to get rid of that alternative, too.

"It's not a compromise. It is a penalty," he said. "To say we got to put a swab up your nose three times a week and get you tested, if you're going to do anything in society, we're done with that."

The bill also bans businesses from mandating facial coverings, except if worn "for a reason other than to prevent the spread of COVID-19." For example, a requirement to wear a mask when working in a chemically toxic environment would be allowed.

Many public health advocates have already expressed worry about any efforts aiming to get rid of such mandates, which they say are necessary tools to combat the spread of the virus.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is also likely to oppose the legislation. He again said Tuesday that he opposes government mandating vaccination and government preventing businesses from requiring them.

Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.