SW Ohio lawmaker keeps committee post despite his anti-vaccine video
Pianist Jim Brickman to stream concerts from familiar spot: Southern Theater
The Enquirer edited this story for length and clarity.
The speaker of the Ohio House is defending his decision to re-appoint a representative who has sided with those with anti-vaccine views to the helm of the House Health Committee.
Rep. Scott Lipps, R-franklin, has pushed legislation to weaken Ohio’s vaccine laws; called in to video conferences hosted by anti-vaccine groups; made public statements about the need to slow or stop the COVID-19 vaccine rollout; and protested a lack of “proper studies” about the COVID-19 vaccines. He also will not get the vaccine because of his reservations about it, although he got shots for his elderly parents.
House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-lima, renamed Lipps to the top health post for the two-year legislative session that started last month.
In April, Lipps joined a video conference call hosted by Health Freedom Ohio (HFO), a group of anti-vaccine activists. Members fretted about what a legislative response to the development of COVID-19 vaccines might look like.
One asked Lipps for effective strategies for members to have their voices heard by legislators. Along with some advocacy tips, Lipps asked for backup.
“I need help with members of the health committee, because we’re going to face a couple huge bills that are gonna matter,” he said.
“We’re gonna face a couple bills that this group does not like. And I have to have energy to stop this vaccine s*** that’s coming.”
In late January 2021, a producer with AJ+, a digital news outlet associated with the Al Jazeera news network, asked Lipps about the remark. He briefly responded before cutting off the interview.
“I meant, until we have the proper studies, and understand what we’re putting in our body, we’ve got to slow it down. I don’t mean to stop it. That’s a strong term. And I did use that term. But I think slow it down is a better term,” he said to the producer.
Lipps has also co-sponsored legislation to require schools to inform parents how to opt out of mandatory student immunizations. Ohio’s vaccine laws allow for exemptions for “reasons of conscience” and religious exemptions.
State law also allows exemptions for students with medical contraindications (a condition or factor that serves as a reason to withhold a certain medical treatment due to the harm that it would cause the patient) or those who have acquired natural immunity through infection.
Cupp, when asked last Wednesday why he appointed someone with Lipps’ views to the top health post during an infectious disease pandemic, said Lipps’ comments were taken out of context.
“He was talking about mandatory vaccination, he wasn’t talking about voluntary vaccination,” Cupp said. “His family has been vaccinated, so he’s obviously not anti-vaccine.”
There was no mention of any vaccine mandate during the April HFO meeting or Lipps’ AJ+ interview, according to a review of footage of both events. However, Lipps said mandates were understood to be the basis of the HFO call.
In an interview last Thursday, Lipps denied any characterization of himself as “anti-vaccine.” He said his children are vaccinated; he helped his octogenarian parents sign up and receive their COVID-19 vaccines; and noted he has co-sponsored legislation to allow podiatrists to administer flu shots.
However, he said he supports legislative proposals to prohibit employers from requiring that their employees receive immunizations. He said his issue lies with any kind of “coercion” or “mandate” to receive a vaccine – not the vaccines themselves.
If he were eligible for one today, Lipps said he would decline a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am not comfortable with that vaccine,” he said. “That’s a personal choice I get to make.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewed safety data and side effects from both Moderna and Pfizer in the clinical trial before deeming them both to be safe as well as being effective against COVID-19.
When asked if he reviewed the clinical data, Lipps responded that “there’s so much” but didn’t elaborate.
Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the state health department’s chief medical officer, has said the small number of adverse reactions to the vaccines is “very reassuring and encouraging.”
The government is not making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory. Gov. Mike Dewine and the state health director have both emphasized there are no plans to force anyone to take a vaccine.
Regardless, anti-vaccine activists and conservative lawmakers have stoked fears of a mandate. On Wednesday, Stephanie Stock, president of Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom (OAMF), an anti-vaccine group, warned lawmakers that Ohio could be “a signature away from an unchecked governor mandating vaccines for all.”
Members and leaders of HFO and OAMF deny they’re anti-vaccine and claim they only support “medical freedom.” Their support takes the form of supporting legislation to weaken school immunization requirements or prohibiting employers from demanding employees take vaccines.
Pianist Jim Brickman knows his way around the Southern Theatre in Columbus. h “I know where my dressing room is, I know where the catering is,” Brickman said. “I know there’s a piano in the hallway . ... I’ve been there so many times.” h The 59-year-old native of Shaker Heights has made the Downtown Columbus theater a regular stop during his annual Christmas concerts, which, until last year, he had been taking on the road for a quarter of a century.