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Senator James Lankford brings his Stop Vaccine Mandates Act up for a vote on the Senate floor.

Passage of Sen. James Lankford’s Stop Vaccine Mandates bill was blocked by Democrats on Wednesday. Lankford spoke on the Senate floor to bring the struggles his constituents have with President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate and the ways it is hurting or will hurt them, their families, and their businesses as deadlines loom. He said people that worked remotely throughout this entire time of COVID and continue to work remotely are a little confused why they are being mandated to have a vaccine.

The Stop Vaccine Mandates Act was introduced by Sen. Lankford to repeal President Biden’s Executive Order that mandates vaccines for federal employees and federal contractors. Lankford has been vocal about President Biden’s Executive Order. He sent a letter to President Biden outlining his concerns with the vaccine mandates and has stood firmly with Oklahoma service members, health care workers, federal employees, and private-sector workers who have chosen so far not to be vaccinated. Lankford is also prepared to champion efforts to disapprove of any rules mandating vaccines for private companies and their employees and also introduced the COVID-19 Vaccine Dishonorable Discharge Prevent Act to prohibit the Department of Defense from giving service members a dishonorable discharge for choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Lankford immediately opposed Biden’s vaccine mandate when it was announced in early September. Lankford received the vaccine and continues to encourage Oklahomans to get the vaccine. But he does not believe anyone should be forced to choose between their job and getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

An op-ed was penned by Lankford last month on how Biden’s vaccine mandate and insistence that everyone should just “do what he says” looks more like something from the communist Chinese government or Putin’s Russia, not the United States.