WASHINGTON (KGTV) — Rep. Darrell Issa introduced legislation on Wednesday to challenge President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.
The Follow Accepted Science Together Act (FAST) or H.R. 5642 would exempt individuals who tested positive for antibodies against COVID-19.
“The demand by this Administration for vaccine mandates is a mistake,” Issa, a Republican from East County's 50th Congressional District, said in a news release. “The FAST Act follows the science and exempts Americans with COVID-19 antibodies from this unfair White House edict.”
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According to Issa's press release, the legislation was developed with a scientific approach and outlined through multiple studies by the National Institute of Health, Yale, BMJ and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory resource medRxiv. The studies determined that those individuals previously infected with COVID-19 have substantial protection from the virus, making the vaccine mandate proposed by the Biden Administration unnecessary.
“The vaccines developed last year during Operation Warp Speed have helped millions of Americans — myself included,” said Issa. “But instead of trusting Americans to make their own personal health choices, the Biden Administration’s mandates are killing jobs and causing chaos. It’s time to put a stop to it.”
However, a study released by the CDC in August found that those previously infected with Covid who did not go on to get vaccinated had odds of reinfection 2.34 times greater compared to those who were infected but did go on to become fully vaccinated.
"You're more likely to get an infection, you're more likely to harbor the virus, you're more likely allow it to mutate to form a new variant, and you're more likely to allow it to spread. So there's still great reason, and great evidence that we should get vaccinated," said Dr. Will Tseng, assistant medical director at Kaiser Permanente.
President Biden has directed the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop a rule that would require workers be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly at companies with 100 or more workers. It would impact more than 80 million workers at private sector businesses.
In San Diego County, 80.5 percent of eligible residents have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. That equates to more than 2.25 million people.
