Mississippi GOP Governor Tate Reeves defends Covid response despite highest death toll per capita in US
Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper why his state requires vaccinations for other diseases but does not approve the order or legislate a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for his state and if he plans to change his approach, Reeves does did not respond directly, instead pushing back on President Joe Biden’s strict new vaccine rules for federal workers, large employers, and healthcare workers.
“It’s unique to kids and their ability to go to our public schools, it’s not mandatory workplace vaccines. But the issue here isn’t what we’re doing in Mississippi, that’s what this president is trying to impose on the American worker. The president really wants you and everyone to believe this is a fight between politicians, “Reeves said on” State of The Union. ” , adding that he didn’t think Biden had the power to establish a federal mandate on vaccines and which he uses as a political distraction.
Mississippi has the highest per capita death toll from Covid-19 in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University on Saturday. Nearly one in 320 people in Mississippi has died from the coronavirus.
The state also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country with around 42% of all residents fully vaccinated, behind the national average of around 54%, according to data from the state Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. -United.
Biden said last week that Republican governors undermining his new term’s vaccine requirements put lives at risk and singled out the Mississippi Republican by saying, “In Mississippi, children need to be vaccinated against measles, Mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus and more. These are state requirements. But in the midst of a pandemic that has already claimed more than 660,000 lives, I am proposing a requirement for Covid vaccines and the governor of this state calls it “a tyrannical type movement”? A tyrannical type movement? ” federal mandates on vaccines without commenting on its status. “
Although the specific rules for the vaccines mandate have yet to be written, several Republican state officials oppose the demands and have said they intend to challenge them.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said on Tuesday that the state is suing Biden and other administration officials on the grounds that the vaccine warrants were “unconstitutional.” South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem claims warrants are a “glaring example of federal intrusion” and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp called part of Biden’s plan “manifestly unlawful overbreadth.”
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