Parson issues executive order to fight COVID-19 vaccine mandates

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gov. Mike Parson announced on Thursday that he has issued Executive Order 21-10 to protect the individual rights of Missourians against overreaching federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Parson released the following statement regarding the Order:

“As the Governor of the State of Missouri, I stand with concerned Missourians and will do all I can to stop federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

“When President Biden announced his initial plans to force unconstitutional vaccine mandates, we immediately began aligning state resources for legal action. While we hoped the Biden Administration would recognize these mandates as the abuse of authority that they are, they have not, and we must now use every tool we have available to fight this federal intrusion.

“The Constitution and its historical interpretations clearly leave public health decisions to the states. The federal government has no authority to issue COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The Biden Administration acting alone to dictate and mandate health requirements represents the kind of federal power grab the founding fathers warned us against.

“In the State of Missouri, public health decisions are left to the people to either make their own personal decisions or speak through their elected representatives in the General Assembly. The Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates undermine and deny Missourians’ their right to make personal health decisions and to speak through their elected representatives.

“More than 3million Missourians are fully vaccinated. Nearly 70 percent of Missourians 18 and older and nearly 90 percent of Missourians 65 and older have initiated vaccination. Missouri’s weekly positivity rate has decreased to 6.4 percent and the number of COVID-19 patients in Missouri hospitals has dramatically declined. Missourians are using common sense and our numbers have improved without federal mandates.

“Let me be clear, we continue to encourage all Missourians to get vaccinated. We can support vaccination without supporting mandates. We are issuing this order to protect our system of government and the individual rights of Missourians to make their own health care decisions.

“Never before since our nation’s founding has a president unilaterally forced vaccinations onto the American people. Due process is a foundational principle of our democracy, and this unprecedented and dangerous action threatens our system of government and the individual freedoms we enjoy.”

Executive Order 21-10 orders and directs the following actions to oppose the Biden Administration’s overreaching federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates:

• All agencies, boards, commissions, and other entities within the executive branch of state government are directed to cooperate fully and timely with the Attorney General of the State of Missouri in litigation on behalf of the State of Missouri against any federally imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandate or requirement.

• No agency, board, commission, or other entity within the executive branch of state government shall compel any individual to receive the COVID-19 vaccine according to federal vaccine mandates if the individual objects for religious or medical reasons.

• No agency, board, commission, or other entity within the executive branch of state government shall penalize individuals or businesses for non-compliance with federally imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates if the individual objects for religious or medical reasons.