TOPEKA – (September 10, 2021) – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today released the following statement on the proposed federal vaccine mandate announced yesterday by President Biden:

“No president has the legal authority to decree a national vaccine mandate or to punish private businesses that refuse to discriminate against employees based on their health status. President Biden yesterday scolded ‘this is not about freedom,’ but the rule of law most certainly is. If the president's overreaching rhetoric becomes federal action, then rest assured we will vigorously challenge it.

“To be clear, I continue to support Kansans choosing to be vaccinated, as I have. But this important health-care decision is reserved for individual Americans not entrusted to the president and federal bureaucrats.”