Minnesota State Senator Roger Chamberlain (R-Lino Lakes) today responded to President Joe Biden’s sweeping mandates on employers and employees with concern and outrage. The mandates require businesses to track vaccine status and require testing for unvaccinated workers, with significant fines for businesses that don’t comply.  

“The president has stepped way, way over the line with his vaccine mandates,” said Sen. Chamberlain. “Deciding to take the vaccine is a deeply personal choice, and nobody should be forced to sacrifice their livelihoods over it — nor should a business be forced to demand their employees turn over that sensitive information. For me it this is not about political parties. It is about all of us. It is about what is just and unjust. The president’s demand for vaccine mandates is unjust; it is an unreasonable, unnecessary, and discriminatory political act that will cause harm to many people. People speak about ‘the Greater Good.’ Who decides that and how is it decided? 

“The Teacher’s Union believes vaccine mandates should be a local decision,” added Sen. Chamberlain. “The Nurse’s Union believes vaccine mandates will lead to staff shortages. The postal workers union doesn’t support vaccine mandates. It runs contrary to our values of choice and privacy. I will do all I can to oppose the president’s vaccine mandate – an egregious overreach of authority.”

• According to a tweet from Minnesota DEED Commissioner Steve Grove, the changes would affect 4,800 businesses and 1.4 million workers in Minnesota. 
  
• The Minnesota Nurses Union responded to the mandate saying, “We question the timing of the impending vaccine mandates and believe these mandates will continue to exacerbate staffing shortages.” 
  
• KSTP reported Patti Cullen, President and CEO of Care Providers, a statewide association for nursing homes, said, “We are totally vaccine supportive, but we already have a chronic workforce crisis in our communities. I think the repercussions are really serious for us,” after Biden imposed a federal mandate for nursing home employees to be vaccinated in August. 
  
• Education Minnesota, the teacher’s union, asked for policy decisions on vaccination be made at a local level in August in a statement that said, “vaccination policies with the goal of persuading nearly all adults in schools to get vaccinated while accommodating the small number of educators who have valid medical or religious reasons for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.”