State senators back Governor’s vaccine exemption bill

A proposal from Governor Kristi Noem to allow employees to gain exemptions from their employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates has gained the support of Republicans on a Senate committee. The bill would allow employees to receive an exemption to an employer’s vaccine requirement by citing either a medical exemption, religious grounds or a test showing antibodies against COVID-19 in the last six months. Katie Hruska, the Governor’s Deputy General Counsel, told the Senate Commerce & Energy Committee Tuesday that the bill sought a middle ground between doctors urging vaccines and groups opposed to mandates altogether. 

After hearing testimony both in favor of and against the bill, the committee voted 8-to-1 to pass it.  Senator Red Dawn Foster, a Democrat, voted against it. 

South Dakota’s rate of 59-percent of people fully vaccinated lags behind the nationwide rate of 64-percent.