Hovis, Burger react to call for special session on vaccine mandates

Two Southeast Missouri legislators reaffirmed Thursday their opposition to vaccine mandates in the wake of a new letter signed this week by six GOP state senators, including Holly Rehder (R-27-Scott City), asking Gov. Mike Parson to call a special session of the General Assembly “to protect Missouri workers from vaccine mandates, whether they be from the public or private sector,” in the words of the missive.

“Over the past several weeks Missouri employers have signaled their intention to require employees and staff to have received the COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. In other words -- get the shot or lose your job. This is concerning to a wide cross-section of Missourians.”

Count House Rep. Barry Hovis (R-146-Whitewater), a former Cape Girardeau police lieutenant, among those not wanting to see anyone pushed into getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It goes against the grain of most people to be told they have to do something that’s personal, when you’re injecting something into your body,” he said.

“We don’t want to force our population into dangerous decisions.”

Hovis’ colleague, freshman lawmaker Jamie Burger (R-148-Benton), who served 18 years on the Scott County Commission, echoed Hovis.

“I just don’t think we have the right (because) as a citizen of the United States, you should be able to receive (the vaccine) or not receive it depending on what your personal thoughts are,” he said.

“I’ve been vaccinated but if my neighbor doesn’t want it, I’m OK with that. That’s his choice.”

Burger is bullish on the call for a special session of the legislature to deal specifically with vaccine mandates.

“I would support a special session because I just don’t think vaccines should be mandatory for anyone in the State of Missouri, at all,” he said.

Hovis, asked for his opinion on a called session, told the Southeast Missourian he’d prefer to wait for the outcome of the Republican House caucus meeting being held today and Saturday.

“(Mandates) are one of the three issues we’re going to talk about (and) we’ll get into it for sure,” he said. “There are vaccines used in childhood but they’ve all been federally approved. To my knowledge, when we talk about the COVID (vaccines), they’re still experimental drugs approved for emergency use and not yet cleared and not yet ruled completely safe.”

Governor

While there has not been a specific comment at presstime from Parson on the call for a special session on vaccine mandates, his recent comments to St. Louis Public Radio seem to show the chances are unlikely of him calling lawmakers back to Jefferson City.

“Do you require somebody in private business, that owns their own business, to tell them whether they can do a mandated vaccine or not? So far, we’re not going to go down that road,” Parson told KWMU-FM.

“If that business decides they want to do that, we’re going to allow them to do that in this state until something changes to show us differently.”

In June, Parson said he wasn’t enthusiastic about calling special sessions on anything except the renewal of a tax to help fund Medicaid and about congressional redistricting.