PIERRE,SD- The South Dakota Medical Association's paid lobbyist Justin Bell shocked observers in a recent committee hearing when he admitted that "vaccines cannot prevent Covid transmission." The paid lobbyist's words echoed those of proponents for HB 1235, who expressed concerns that vaccine mandates ignore science.

The Health and Human Services Committee passed HB 1235 on a slim margin of 7-6 this morning, after some rather unusual debate. The bill to "provide a conscience exemption from a COVID-19 vaccination," now moves to the House floor.

The bill passed by one vote, despite heavy opposition from nine lobbyists, including the father-son-duo, Mitch and Tim Rave. Testimony became lively on both sides of the debate, with one doctor getting cut off due to derogatory remarks.

While those in favor of the bill included prominent doctors and scientists, the opponent testimony came solely from registered lobbyists whose arguments centered primarily upon the idea of social obligations. Most noticeably absent from opponent testimony was any type of scientific study, or clinical based evidence to support the COVID vaccinations.

According to a recently published study by Dr Anthony Fauci, mRNA based herd immunity has largely been debunked and "needs to be re-imagined," as the Covid-19 vaccines have not been found to prevent the transmission of the Sars-Cov-2 virus.



South Dakota State Medical Association's lobbyist Justin Bell, who has also lobbied against early treatment protocols, told committee members that "it's true the vaccines cannot prevent COVID transmission." "Prevent, that's the key word there, prevent," Bell said. "That's true, and that's true with almost every vaccine," Bell said. Bell went on to argue that the point of public health is to decrease statistics, to which he added that the vaccines are "safe and effective."

According to CNN however, the CDC is currently looking into the safety of the bivalent series, as signals indicate the Pfizer bivalent may be tied to blood clots in elderly patients.

Deb Fischer-Clemens, a lobbyist for Avera Health, gave an emotional finger-pointing testimony in which she asked committee members to consider a hypothetical question about healthcare staff, prior to the vaccine's availability.

"You know when beds were full, beds were full in this state, what if, what if every healthcare worker was suddenly COVID positive," Fischer asked. "And there wasn't a healthcare worker available to take care of the people in those beds, what would have happened? What would have happened?"

Perhaps most interesting, however, was the testimony given by Doug Abraham, registered lobbyist for the South Dakota Retailer's Association. Abraham argued in favor of mandates, "Basically anyone who wishes to be exempted on the claim of conscience could. There's no way to disprove that here," Abraham said.

According to Mitch Rave, registered lobbyist for Sanford Health, the bill is unnecessary due to the fact that medical and religious exemptions are "widely accepted today." It is currently estimated that Sanford and Avera Health have lost between 6-8,000 staff members combined, as their exemptions were not accepted. A point that now seems moot, as a recent amendment was added to the bill that would exempt many of the largest healthcare facilities in the state.

Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer (R-Aberdeen), who sits on the committee, shared that the bill impacts far more than just the thirteen districts represented by those on the committee. Schaefbauer asked colleagues to send the bill to the House floor in order to allow broader representation of the state.

As Schaefbauer correctly notes, conscience exemptions and the right to exercise them would apply to most South Dakotans. The bill now goes before the House for debate and a floor vote. The bill and the floor vote can be followed at the SDLeg website, or by following Associate Correspondent Matthew Monfore HERE.


--Breeauna Sagdal

Post Date: 2023-02-14 09:04:42

Last Update: 2023-02-14 20:01:41