South Carolina bill banning vaccine mandates advances in Senate
A bill prohibiting vaccine mandates in some future pandemics advanced after senators restored pharmacists’ rights to decline to fill most prescriptions. The bill would make it illegal for companies, colleges, nonprofits, and state agencies to require employees, students, and customers to get certain vaccines. Violators could be fined up to $5,000 or spend five years in jail for a third or further offense.
Sen. Shane Martin of Spartanburg County proposed the bill in response to requirements people get vaccinated for COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. Legislators passed a law in April 2022 banning public employers in South Carolina from mandating COVID vaccinations, but that entire law expired Dec. 31, 2023.
The bill sent to the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee would not apply to all immunizations. After pediatricians raised concerns that the bill would dissuade schools from requiring childhood vaccinations, senators specified the rule would apply only to “novel vaccines,” meaning they’re not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
While supporters of the bill said the mandates were unlike anything the state had ever seen, Sen. Ronnie Sabb said the requirements were warranted amid the pandemic. The vaccines that companies required saved lives, the Greeleyville Democrat added.
After changes Wednesday, the proposal also prohibits pharmacists from refusing to fill a prescription for an off-label use of an FDA-approved drug to treat a debilitating or life-threatening disease while a statewide public health emergency is in place. If a pharmacist objects, they can send the prescription to another pharmacist who is willing to fill it, as long as they tell the patient’s doctor.
A similar bill never got a vote in the Senate last year. The proposal a panel of senators advanced Wednesday had fewer of the restrictions included in last year’s attempt. The state would be allowed to administer vaccines with emergency use authorization, K-12 schools would not be included among places not allowed to require vaccines, and the state would be allowed to require quarantines for people exposed to or positive for a dangerous disease for up to 21 days.