The Kenai City Council passed an amended resolution that would oppose government mandates requiring vaccines and face coverings related to COVID-19.
In passing the resolution, the council supports the rights of individuals and parents of minors to make personal decisions with regard to their individual healthcare choices related to vaccines for COVID-19 and face coverings. It also supports the rights of businesses to make their own decisions with regard to COVID-19 mitigation, if any, required within their establishments.
Council Member James Baisden, who sponsored the resolution, said:
“The goal, here, is for us at the local level to make a statement. We’re seeing things come down at the federal level now, a lot of lawsuits dealing with mandates. This city has done a lot of things right. I applaud what this council has done. We’re a home rule city so we do have a lot of power. I can say we can do the opposite if this group up here was voting on mask mandates right now, tomorrow, this school district would have mask mandates in this city. We have that power to do that, just the opposite when they would use that in their favor. I want to use this in our favor to show that we need to respect. I’m not anti-vaccine. I want you to get vaccinated. I take allergy shots every four weeks. I’m not an anti-vaccine person. I want everybody to wear a mask. I think mandates make more people less likely to get the vaccine than it does to help it. I didn’t create that, but I want to make a statement, here.”
That statement says that the Kenai City Council does not support government mandates requiring individuals to take COVID-19 vaccines and/or wear face coverings in public facilities, including schools, or for travel related purposes. Even though the resolution unanimously passed, some council members expressed concern regarding how this resolution could be seen as divisive to the community given how contentious the coronavirus pandemic has become.
