The Biden Administration is fighting back against Senate Republican along with 13 Democrats who voted to put an end to the notion that COVID is still an emergency. Senate Joint Resolution 63 is intended to put an end to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020. Senator Roger Marshall, a physician from Kansas, forced the issue onto the Senate floor, but Joe Biden says he needs an “emergency” to fund things like student loan forgiveness.

Now that Nancy Pelosi is out of the picture, this vote may get enough bipartisan support to put a bill on the president's desk. However, Joe Biden says he will veto it, saying the bill would end the national emergency "abruptly and prematurely."

Governor Kate Brown is desperately trying to keep the crisis mentality going in Oregon to test out the newly passed authority given to the Oregon Health Authority. The shortage of nursing and professional staff created during the COVID emergency is having a lingering effect. Many were forced to quit because they refused to take a vaccine that is now being suspended or banned in India, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia. In the U.S., a year ago, twelve state governors signed legislation restricting COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Still Governor Brown continues to tell healthcare workers they can’t help with the shortage of nurses if they choose to not vaccinate or qualify for an exemption. SB 1529 carried by Senator Deb Patterson (D-Salem), passed on partisan lines against overwhelming opposition concerned with the unfettered powers given to the Health Authority whenever an emergency is declared or to declare an emergency with the governor’s approval. SB 1529 allows the Public Health Director to direct and deploy State Emergency Registry of Volunteers in Oregon (SERV-OR), a database of healthcare professionals volunteering their services including those licensed in other states that can practice in Oregon upon declaration of an emergency.

The Governor’s executive order will give hospitals additional flexibility to staff beds for children, allow them to draw on a pool of medical volunteer nurses and doctors from other states (SERV-OR), and take other steps to provide care to pediatric patients. One may ask what the emergency really is since SERV-OR data base includes 5,150 Oregon licensed professionals that could fill in without an emergency. There is an additional 224 with dual license in Oregon and another state, and 75 out-of-state license holders.

There is no vaccine for RSV, so why does Governor Brown and OHA continue to block Oregonian professionals that aren’t vaccinated in the light of national bi-partisan support declaring the emergency is over?


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-11-21 08:30:31

Last Update: 2022-11-21 19:55:37