On the recordJanuary 31, 2023
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in favor of H.R. 497, the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act. When President Biden, Mr. Speaker, admitted that there is no Federal solution to COVID-19, he admitted that these vaccine mandates are not about public health. They are about control. Nowhere in America, especially in Georgia's First Congressional District, should workers have to choose between a vaccine and their job. As a pharmacist, I trust patients to work with medical professionals and their families to make the vaccine decision that works best for them and their health. Listen, Mr. Speaker, I chose to participate in the trials, in the vaccine trials. I volunteered to do that because I trust the process. But that was my decision, and no one else's, as it should be. A decision to receive a vaccine is a personal one and should only be done in consultation with a trusted healthcare professional. This mandate has also exacerbated our healthcare worker shortages and could cost patients' lives instead of saving them. We need policies that empower workers to work, businessowners to innovate, and patients to foster relationships with their healthcare professionals, not one-size-fits-all mandates that are nothing short of government overreach in its most tyrannical form. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Duncan and Chairman Rodgers for working together on this legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
