Senator Rand Paul offered a resolution on Thursday to prevent US Senate Pages—typically teenagers—from being mandated to get a COVID vaccine.
The Senate Page Program allows college students to get a hands-on understanding of the inner workings of Congress, but participating has recently required COVID-19 vaccination.
Paul said this shouldn’t happen again because it’s unnecessary for young people, he believes it is perhaps “dangerous,” and that such mandates have become a partisan issue.
Paul said in a press release, “Study after study shows that it makes no sense to mandate COVID vaccinations for teenagers who are healthy, and that such a mandate could be dangerous. It is the height of malpractice to subject young people to the greater risk of vaccination simply to satisfy mandates designed to protect bureaucrats from accountability. I urge the Senate to pass my resolution to end all COVID-related mandates for pages who serve in this chamber.”
Paul sought unanimous consent on his resolution, but it was objected to by Democratic Senator Ben Cardin on Thursday.
Paul responded, “We are telling kids all across America, you cannot come up here unless you get what the Democrats tell you is the best thing for your health, and even though there are some scientists who say that it actually may imperil your health, you don’t get a choice and you can’t be part of the nationwide Senate program, You can’t be part of this elite group unless you submit. Unless you bend the knee to the Democrats. Unless you say, ‘my body belongs to the Democrat party, my body will be injected with whatever the Democrats tell me I need to do because I don’t have control over my medical decisions, the Democrat party does.’”
The Kentucky Republican said such health decisions for young people participating in the Pages program should be between them and their parents.
“This is obscene and the Democrat majority should be embarrassed that they are here today telling us that American families and American parents are not smart enough to make their own decisions,” Paul finished.
According to Senator Bernie Sanders congressional website, “In regards to the COVID-19 vaccine, all Pages must be fully vaccinated by the time they arrive in Washington D.C.” The official US Senate Page Program site states, “Pages must provide a general health assessment completed by a licensed physician and a certification of immunization.”
Like this article? Check out the latest BASEDPolitics podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or below:
