In Idaho, Texas, Florida and Michigan, regional governments have been taking steps to resist federal vaccination recommendations.
Last month, Southwest District Health, a health agency serving six counties in Idaho, voted to stop its COVID-19 vaccination program. This came despite advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that everyone should stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines for the person's age group to help protect against hospitalizations, critical illness and death.
In a board meeting October 22, attending members narrowly voted to approve the measure, which will mean COVID booster shots are no longer offered to residents of Adams, Canyon, Gem, Owyhee, Payette and Washington counties in southwest Idaho.
The meeting notes included a screenshot of an email from two self-described "concerned citizens," Judy and Ben Call, with the subject line "Say NO to COVID Shots."
"Has the COVID shot not done enough damage?" their email read. "Please do not continue to inflict this on our children. The CDC is wrong and we are tired of their self-serving policies."
Elsewhere, the Florida Department of Health has advised its residents against COVID-19 booster shots, according to a statement titled "Updated Guidance for COVID-19 Boosters for the Fall and Winter 2024-2025 Season."
The online statement begins by reminding readers of "the importance of remaining up to date with current literature related to COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, and the importance of providing patients with informed consent."
After listing vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the statement says the most recent booster jab was approved "in the absence of booster-specific clinical trial data performed in humans."
The statement raises doubt over "whether these boosters offer any substantial protection against the virus and subsequent circulating variants." It also accuses the federal government of failing to "provide sufficient data to support the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 boosters."
It concludes by stating that the surgeon general of Florida, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, "advises against the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines."
Legislation has been passed in Texas to prohibit the promotion and advertisement of COVID-19 vaccinations by the state's health agency.
"None of the General Revenue funds appropriated to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) may be used for the purposes of promoting or advertising COVID-19 vaccinations in the 2024-2025 biennium," reads the General Appropriations Act, House Bill 1, Article II, Rider 40.
In Michigan's Ottawa County, commissioners recently rejected a $900,000 state grant that would have been allocated for responding to public health emergencies.
Ottawa County Board Chair Joe Moss was widely reported to have consistently referred to the money as a COVID grant, saying he was "opposed to accepting any COVID grants."
A Michigan woman named Lisa Domski was recently awarded more than $12 million in damages after suing her employer for firing her for refusing to get vaccinated.
In 2021, Domski refused the COVID vaccine on religious grounds, saying it conflicted with her Catholic faith, and a federal jury in Detroit ruled that her dismissal was religious discrimination.
The CDC has reported moderate wastewater levels of the coronavirus in Idaho and Michigan this month, as well as minimal levels in Florida and Texas, according to an analysis based on wastewater sampling.
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