Burgess: OSHA Vaccine Mandate is unnecessary and harmful

Statement

Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), released the following statement criticizing the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate on private employers, health care workers, and federal contractors. While Burgess is confident in the safety and efficacy of each of the COVID-19 vaccines, this is a decision that must be left between patients and their trusted doctors.

"With this decision, the Biden Administration has chosen to alienate instead of unite," said Burgess. "Americans should have a choice in whether or not they receive a vaccine, and those who are not comfortable should not be called out or isolated. Maybe if the President stuck with his promise to unite our country from the beginning, we would be in a different situation."

"This is an unnecessary and harmful overstep by the Biden Administration. In the announcement of this rule, the Administration admitted that 70 percent of adult Americans are fully vaccinated. This decision risks Americans' access to timely care as we are watching our health care providers leave their professions.

"Instead of focusing on ways to continue pitting Americans against each other, this Administration needs to remember the promises in the President's inaugural address -- "Bringing America together. Uniting our people. And uniting our nation.'

"Our nation was founded on the principle of consent of the governed - that no king or ruler should have the power to unilaterally exert their will over the people. That is the situation we find ourselves in now.

"I encourage every American to talk with their trusted doctor about whether or not they should receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This decision should be made in the doctor's office not as a job requirement."

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