FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DIEHL DEMANDS BAKER – POLITO ADMINISTRATION IMMEDIATELY REPEAL VACCINE MANDATE State Trooper in ICU following state mandated COVID vaccine dose.

(Whitman, MA – 10/12/21) Geoff Diehl calls on Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito to immediately repeal the COVID vaccine mandates for all Massachusetts state employees being threatened with the loss of their job if they don’t have proof of vaccination by October 17. Diehl has repeatedly insisted that Massachusetts citizens should have the freedom to make their own medical decisions without fear of coercion or retribution by government agencies.

Tragically, we are learning that a 45-year-old Massachusetts State Trooper and  father of two children has been hospitalized and is in the ICU at Brigham & Women’s Hospital after getting the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine injection on Friday. The Sergeant, a twenty-year veteran of the force, evidently decided to get the single-dose shot rather than lose his job. (Massachusetts State Police Sergeant in Intensive Care, Boston Herald, 10/12/21)

“First of all, I am praying for this hero and for his family,” said Diehl. “This was a choice that the Trooper never should have had to make and I demand that the Baker / Polito administration immediately revoke the vaccine mandate. People who have developed natural immunity, or who recognize that this vaccination will put them at a greater health risk, should not be forced to choose between their livelihood and a capricious executive order tied to an arbitrary timetable.”

Additionally, the Jacobson case law cited by the Administration as providing the legal authority is 116 years old and fails to be relevant, primarily because of… “the Supreme Court’s recognition that an individual has a constitutionally protected right to refuse medical treatment. Oddly enough, most decisions in this line of cases cite Jacobson as the foundation for that right.”(Vaccine Mandates and Jacobson v. Massachusetts: A Closer Look, RCP, 10/12/21) And the finding by the courts that a fine for non-vaccination of $5, in 1905, is equivalent to losing your job by the state or federal government, today, is absolutely appalling.

“The Baker / Polito administration is putting lives directly at risk,” said Diehl. “The fact that they are calling up the National Guard to replace the scores of law enforcement, corrections officers and others about to be fired, simply for trying to protect their personal health, creates further public safety risks and is unconscionable. The Governor needs to repeal the mandate immediately and restore lost jobs to any state workers who have been fired or who have submitted their resignation under duress.”