Mandate Freedom
By Governor Kristi Noem
February 11, 2022
When the federal government oversteps its bounds, it is up to states to protect individual liberties. In South Dakota, we take action to defend the personal choice to get the COVID-19 vaccine—or not. And with good reason.
In December 2020, President-elect Joe Biden told Americans that he would not mandate COVID-19 vaccines. “No, I don’t think they should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it to be mandatory,” he said.
Anthony Fauci sang the same tune. He said of vaccine mandates, “I don’t see it on a national level, merely because of all the situations you have encroaching upon a person’s freedom to make their own choice of their own health.”
Six months ago, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated the Biden Administration’s opposition to vaccine mandates, saying, “That’s not the role of the federal government.”
The Biden Administration’s supposed opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates may be one of the biggest lies ever told. Now we know what the president really believed.
Weeks later, President Biden wildly changed course and announced wide-ranging and unconstitutional federal mandates that would force more than 100 million Americans to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Americans fought back against President Biden’s unprecedented power grab. Individuals said “NO,” and some state governments backed them up. I told President Biden, “We will see you in court.” We joined four lawsuits to stop the unconstitutional mandates. The good news is last month the Supreme Court blocked the OSHA mandate. In the face of defeat, the Biden Administration backed down and withdrew its vaccine mandate for large businesses. And we are making progress on the other mandates, as well.
But we have already seen President Biden betray his promises to the American people on this issue. He could very well do it again and attempt to reinstate another mandate. The threat of more COVID-19 vaccine mandates has not gone away.
If you give big government bureaucrats an inch, they will take a mile. That won’t happen on my watch.
Individuals should be able to make a personal choice whether to get the COVID-19 vaccination. More than 70% of eligible South Dakotans have received at least one dose. We know that these vaccines can help keep patients out of the hospital. But it should be a choice. I issued an executive order to protect the right to religious and medical exemptions for state employees. Now I have introduced a bill to protect those exemptions for the rest of the citizens of South Dakota, too, if they face a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from their employer.
The proposed law includes three exemptions that an employer must honor if they mandate the COVID-19 vaccine: for medical reasons, such as when an employee has a medical condition that would advise against getting this vaccine; for religious reasons, if a person objects to the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, which includes their moral or ethical beliefs and principles; or if an individual is naturally immune following an infection from COVID-19 and can provide a test result that shows positivity for the COVID-19 antibodies.
No person should be forced to put their health in jeopardy because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. No one should be forced to abandon their religious principles. And no one should be forced to get a COVID-19 vaccine if they have natural immunity to the disease.
South Dakota has set an example for the nation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We protected lives, and we also protected freedom. We didn’t shut down our state; we didn’t destroy our economy. We gave our citizens the information they needed to make decisions to protect themselves and their families. And we are thriving as a result. With this law, we will once again defend our people’s right to decide for themselves how to protect against COVID-19—and we will continue to fight unconstitutional mandates from Washington, DC.
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Now I’m confused.
Freedumb to Infect Others!
“No person should be forced to put their health in jeopardy…” says Kristi Noem.
But that is exactly what happens to the rest of us when someone forgoes vaccination. The Covid vaccine has saved lives AND reduced the spread.
Would Kristi argue differently? Please – give it a shot.
Yikes – you sound like a an anti vaxxer. You don’t think your shot protects you from the unvaxxed!
Has someone told you that the vaccine is 100% effective? If that were the case… you would be really foolish not to get it.
No ones told me that and I haven’t got it.
Protected lives? Um…
“The Biden Administration’s supposed opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates may be one of the biggest lies ever told.” writes Kristi Noem
By “lies” – she means Delta and Omicron came into the picture. We had almost no cases last summer and then they shot up again. But… demagogues will be demagogues.
From the CDC:
On July 27, 2021, CDC released updated guidance on the need for urgently increasing COVID-19 vaccination coverage and a recommendation for everyone in areas of substantial or high transmission to wear a mask in public indoor places, even if they are fully vaccinated. CDC issued this new guidance due to several concerning developments and newly emerging data signals.
First, a significant increase in new cases reversed what had been a steady decline since January 2021. In the days leading up to our guidance update, CDC saw a rapid and alarming rise in the COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates around the country.
elk, it’s an airborne RNA virus, like influenza. The same thing happens with influenza every year: cases drop to nearly zero every summer and then new mutant strains arrive in the fall. It’s what airborne RNA viruses do. As people spend more time indoors with their windows closed, the cold and flu season resumes. Every year. From now on, the winter months will be the cold, covid and flu season.
The case numbers will drop again as the weather warms. They’ll be down to almost zero again. But then they will come back.
We have to learn to live with it
Maybe we will have to live with it. Maybe not.
But were they “the biggest lies ever told”? When Biden said we could drop the masks or when he thought vaccine mandates would not be necessary?
What do you think, Anne?
There is no need for masks, there hasn’t been for a while. The vaccines protect and/or limit the symptoms. Covid is nothing more than a flue. People need to get over the hype and hysteria around it and learn to leave with it.
Winter is now the flu/cold/covid season. Get your vaccines or don’t, it’s an individual’s right to decide.
“People need to get over the hype and hysteria”
That’s someone little elky can’t do….he thirves on hype and hysteria…..you know chicken little?
Little Elky here, spreading more hype and hysteria…
“No person should be forced to put their health in jeopardy because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
“That won’t happen on my watch.”
“No one should be forced to abandon their religious principles.”
“The Biden Administration’s supposed opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates may be one of the biggest lies ever told.”
(All from one press release above)
So…when can we all expect elky to blame the upcoming perceived COVID spike from the Superbowl on Governor Noem? He blames everything else on her why not this too?
South Dakota’s Covid death rate is worse than any of the six states that border us. Much worse than some.
It’s the facts that you have a problem with. Not me.
7 day average cases/deaths as of yesterday
MN 3978/28
IA 916/24
NE 278/1
ND 590/3
SD 444/5
MT 847/5
CO 583/2
WY 339/2
OMG!! South Dakota is just an ongoing petri dish isn’t it? AS has been pointed out before ….chicken little.
I said the death rate… not this weeks death rate. Good grief.
Ya elky…..I know the numbers are taxing for you little non-functional brain.
Total deaths as of yesterday:
MN 11830
IA 8829
NE 3815
ND 2154
SD 2706
MT 3072
CO 11583
WY 1667
Yep ….SD sure is way out in front of all of our neighbors. Again…chicken little.
Gov. Noem says someone should be exempt “if a person objects to the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, which includes their moral or ethical beliefs and principles”
“beliefs and principles”
OK. In case you didn’t notice already, that means ANYBODY could be exempt.
And… in her effort to “protect lives”… she is inviting unvaccinated Californians to move here too.
Right On! Freedom at any cost! No mention of ongoing and escalating Covid hospitalizations and 2,730 dead South Dakotans so far. Wasn’t the ‘biggest lie’ with 45 and not Covid?
Noem calls it an “unprecedented power grab”. I have to laugh when I see that one.
What power is she talking about? Are safety measures like speed limits and DUI laws a “power grab”? If that kind of power turns you on, you need to raise your goals a bit.
No Kristi… it’s your “unprecedented” hyperbole that we are witnessing.
I guess one would laugh when willingly giving up more and more freedoms.
Are all of our state mandated vaccines a great denial of freedom too? Or just this particular vaccine – for some reason?
The Covid vaccine has saved many thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of infections. It has reduced the spread, spared many from this virus and done it safely. So, of course, some of you will do whatever it takes to fight it.
But you have to admit that it is interesting that Gov. Noem waited until now… after many employer mandates were implemented… to come to the rescue.
There is no State mandated vaccines Elk.
Can you explain the law you are talking about?
You do know you don’t have to go to a government school right?
You are the gift that keeps on giving.
Elk, Please prove what you said about the vaccine.
Keep in mind that people who have been jabbed 3 times are getting covid.
The local news airs the confirmed COVID cases each evening. Interestingly, if a person uses a free home test and tests positive the result doesn’t need to be confirmed by a medical provider or reported to the SD-DOH. https://doh.sd.gov/COVID/Testing/FREETestKit.aspx
Elk – The COVID shot was released under an EUA. On page 10 of the then EUA fact sheet for providers, it mentions “the significant known and potential risks and benefits of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and the extent to which such risks and benefits are unknown.”