INDIANAPOLIS—On Wednesday, Governor Holcomb gave his first COVID update in several weeks as Omicron cases rise and ICU beds fill across the state. State Senator Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) released the following statement:

“The Governor is only partially correct when he says it is impossible to fathom why so many fail to grasp the importance of vaccines as the safest, most essential means to combat the resurging pandemic,” Sen. Lanane said. “Much of Indiana’s dismal COVID performance is a direct result of Republicans’ politicization of vaccines and persistent opposition to meaningful immunization efforts. 

“This year’s House Bill 1001 is a direct partisan attack on employees’ health and livelihoods that makes it all too easy for the misinformed and obstinate to evade vaccination and singlehandedly dictate their coworkers’ wellbeing and exposure levels.

“There is only one way for Indiana to rise above what has now become chronically low vaccination rates—that is for leaders to make it clear that being vaccinated is now a civic duty of the highest nature and to stop indulging those who continue to keep Indiana from defeating the pandemic.”