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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 07: A person receives a COVID-19 vaccination dose, during a free distribution of COVID-19 rapid test kits for those who received vaccination shots or booster shots, at Union Station on January 7, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Thirty new deaths and over 37,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported by Los Angeles County amid the continued spread of the Omicron variant.
South Carolina may become the first state in the United States to make it illegal to ask about a person's vaccination status after Republican lawmakers proposed the idea, arguing that it was private medical information for every individual.
The author of the bill said that the legislation was needed in the region because many unvaccinated individuals were suffering real-world consequences. In an interview, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Burns, said that many people in South Carolina were losing their jobs because they were required to report to their employer that they were unvaccinated.
Asking About Vaccination Status
The lawmaker added that there were residents who were having their insurance rates placed in a different category because of their vaccination status. He noted that some people were being charged up to an additional $100 per week compared to residents who were vaccinated. He called the situation "absolutely insane."
Burns introduced the legislation, which was named H. 4848, on Jan. 20, which would make it a criminal offense for any employer, business, nonprofit, or public entity to ask about a person's COVID-19 vaccination status. The lawmaker said the state should make it off-limits to ask about vaccination status, similar to how it was asking women about their pregnancy status, Fox News reported.
The legislation would make it a misdemeanor to ask a person about their vaccination status and fine them no more than $14,000, or imprison them for no longer than one year, or both. Other lawmakers supported Burns with his proposal, including Rep. Patrick Haddon, Rep. Steven Wayne Long, Rep. William "Bill" Chumley, Rep. Sandy McGarry, and Rep. Victor "Vic" Dabney.
Long argued that the legislation was about protecting the people from being forced or coerced into getting a vaccine for purposes of employment, admission to schools, or government services. The lawmaker added that it was more about personal privacy for his constituents.
Illegal Act
The Spartanburg representative said that many people were calling him every week, requesting the legislature to take some kind of action to protect the rights of the people in the region. They wanted the state to protect their privacy and keep them from being forced or coerced into getting vaccinated that they did not want, Counton2 reported.
In a statement, Burns compared the questions about vaccination status to questions regarding a woman's pregnancy. He said that he was not allowed to question a female if she planned to get pregnant or if she was infected with STDs or HIV. He criticized the fact that, on the other hand, it was completely fine to terminate a person's livelihood because they didn't get the "emergency-us-only vaccine."
The situation comes after the Supreme Court has recently banned United States President Joe Biden's vaccine-or-test federal mandate on large businesses with more than 100 employees. On the other hand, the new legislation would block South Carolina employers from voluntarily implementing vaccine requirements.
Burns acknowledged that his proposal had little chance of becoming law since only about 5% of "all the bills" that are filed by officials become law. However, he said that he still wanted to take action to help the people of the state, Q13Fox reported.
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