Gov. Brown’s vaccine overreach is steering State off a cliff

By Oregon Senate Republican Office,

Kate Brown’s Overreach is Steering Oregon Toward a Cliff

SALEM, Ore. – With just over a week left until the Governor’s deadline for police officers, nurses, and teachers to choose between their livelihoods or the vaccine, the consequences are coming into focus.

In the last few weeks, hospital systems around the state have laid off hundreds of health care workers, causing a lapse in critical services. Oregon State Police and other public safety agencies are facing massive staffing losses. Several rural counties, which have delicate workforces, have declared emergencies because of the impact the Governor’s overreaches are having.

Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod (R-Lyons) and Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend) are calling on the Governor to roll back her misguided mandates.

“The Governor’s reckless mandates and government overreach are causing a crisis of critical public services,” Girod said. “Her mandates have already ruined the educations for thousands of Oregon students by shutting down schools. Now, she is steering us toward severe staffing shortages in education, health care, and public safety. Every Oregonian has been given the opportunity to get vaccinated and they know how to protect themselves and each other. These mandates have gone on for too long and have gone too far.”

The Oregon Nurses Association recently emphasized the dramatic impact the Governor’s mandates will have on the health care system. The ONA board president said, “Losing even a single nurse from the bedside will result in greater strain on our health care system.”

Yet, the Governor’s overreach is putting Oregon’s health care system on the verge of losing hundreds of nurses. The Aurora Fire Department, and many other public safety departments, could lose up to 50% of their staff in the coming weeks.

“After a year of being called heroes, our frontline workers’ livelihoods are being threatened,” Knopp said. “Our kids are desperate for a real education. Our neighborhoods are being overrun by crime. Our health care workers are overwhelmed. We cannot afford to make these problems worse by what are clearly avoidable self-inflicted wounds. The coming catastrophe is completely on the Governor and the Democratic-controlled legislature who has abdicated all COVID responsibility to her. She must drop these mandates now and allow Oregonians to make free and informed decisions about their safety.”