LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine begins arriving in Kentucky in mid-December.
Nursing home residents and staff, along with healthcare workers, will be the first eligible to receive it, but one lawmaker wants to make sure no one is forced to take the shot.
Rep. Savannah Maddox, a Republican from Dry Ridge, has pre-filed a bill that would prohibit the state from mandating the vaccine.
"We just want to make sure that people have the ability to decide for themselves," Maddox told WDRB News. "They would not have the force of government compelling them to receive the vaccine."
Maddox is concerned about a portion of KRS 214.036 which reads:
"... in the event of an epidemic in a given area, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services may, by emergency regulation, require the immunization of all persons within the area of epidemic, against the disease responsible for such epidemic.'"
Maddox said Kentuckians should not be required to get the vaccine even if would help protect public health.
"I think that our rights don't go away even in a pandemic," she said. "Our individual liberties do not cease to exist."
Gov. Andy Beshear has been saying for months that he has "zero plans" to mandate a vaccine, but will launch an education campaign to convince the public of its safety.
"There's no plan for a mandatory vaccination. People deserve to see the information about how safe it's going to be and to make a decision -- and that's how we are going to approach it," Beshear told reporters in October.
But Maddox said she is not assured by the governor's words.
"Just because it is not currently a conversation about mandating the vaccine, does not mean that won't happen in the future," she said.
The bill would not apply to private companies requiring their employees to get the shot, but Maddox said that conversation does need to happen.
"It is important that we create these protections, and that we strike that appropriate balance of mitigating a legitimate public health concern, but also preserving the constitutional rights and individual liberties of Kentuckians."
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