New bill introduced to put 10-year pause on certain vaccines

BOISE — Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth, is proposing to put a 10-year pause on certain types of vaccines that were used for some of the immunizations for COVID-19 during the pandemic.

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday afternoon voted to introduce the bill, which will allow it come back for a full hearing.

The bill would implement a moratorium on “human gene therapy,” regardless “of whether such administration is termed an immunization, vaccine or any other term,” that would last until 2035.

Shippy said it “provides the necessary time to evaluate these technologies while protecting our citizens.” He said it was inspired by an Idaho rancher who had a blood clot after he received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 and eventually became paralyzed.

Doug Cameron, named in the bill and by Shippy on Tuesday, had previously told the Idaho Freedom Foundation that some of his doctors believed the vaccine led to his clot and subsequent paralysis. The vaccine Cameron said he received did not use the newer mRNA technology that the other vaccines did; it used the traditional method used to make other vaccines.

The emergency authorization of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine expired in 2023, and it is no longer available in the U.S. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration on April 12, 2021, issued a joint statement reporting that of more than 6.8 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines that were administered, there were six reported cases of a rare and severe blood clot, all in women.

The definitions for gene therapies include transcribed ribonucleic acid (RNA); genetically modified microorganisms, such as viruses; and engineered genetically modified human cells.

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said she would have questions about what exactly would be prohibited under the bill or if treatment could be received if the patient consents to it.

The bill would not apply to gene therapy for cancer treatment or genetic disorders.

Vaccines are not gene therapy, according to the Vaccine Education Center information from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Messenger RNA, or mRNA, was discovered in the 1960s and research was developed into the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that the first vaccine using the technology was brought to market, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.