MN Republicans introduce vaccine criminalization bill drafted by Florida hypnotist
Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Va., February 2, 2021. Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce/Virginia Mercury.
A group of eight Republicans in the Minnesota House have introduced legislation (HF3219) that would designate certain vaccines and medical treatments as 'weapons of mass destruction' and make possessing or administering them a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The legislation specifically targets messenger RNA (mRNA) treatments, which include several COVID-19 vaccines. Those vaccines have saved millions of lives and are considered one of the most important medical and public health achievements of the 21st century so far.
The bill's language appears to have been drafted by Joseph Sansone, a Florida hypnotist and conspiracy theorist who believes that mRNA treatments are 'nanoparticle injections' that amount to 'biological and technological weapons of mass destruction.'
Sansone has falsely claimed that 'more Americans have died from mRNA injections than in WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War combined,' and has said he has stood 'alongside an Army of the Dead' to file unsuccessful legal complaints against vaccines in Florida.
The bill has no chance of passage given the narrow margins in the House and Senate, as well as the DFL's control of the governorship. But its support among multiple Republican representatives, including several members of GOP House leadership, give a sense of how the party would govern if it controlled the state legislature.
The Minnesota Republicans sponsoring the bill include Shane Mekeland (Clear Lake), Krista Knudsen (Lake Shore), Assistant GOP Floor Leader Walter Hudson (Albertville), Jeff Dotseth (Silver Township), Tom Murphy (Underwood), Pam Altendorf (Red Wing), Keith Allen (Kenyon), and Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore Isaac Schultz (Elmdale). Several have also sponsored a marginally less extreme bill (HF 3152) that would make administering mRNA vaccines a misdemeanor subject to a $500 penalty.
The Reformer requested comment from several of the bill sponsors but none responded.
In addition to vaccines for infectious diseases, mRNA technology holds tremendous promise for treating cancer and other ailments. Thousands of cancer patients are currently participating in trials of personalized mRNA vaccines targeting various types of tumors.
Minnesota's Mayo Clinic has been at the forefront of some of that research, which would be criminalized under the proposed bill.
The language in the bill further bans 'nanotechnology or nanoparticles that alter genes and create a biosynthetic cell replication,' which could impact other cutting-edge medical technologies like CRISPR. It also bans 'any human gene therapy product for any infectious disease indication.'
The bill compels state and local authorities to 'use all lawful means necessary' to enforce its provisions, and would subject authorities to prosecution under existing weapons of mass destruction statutes if they refused to investigate alleged violations of the law.
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