2021 has been a most extraordinary year, and the filing and passage of state-based vaccine legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be historic as well. Even in spite of the sometimes divisive and hostile political climate, active citizen involvement in the legislative process to protect the human right to exercise informed consent to vaccination was the most successful it has ever been.

The nonprofit educational charity National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reports that during the 2021 legislative session, NVIC analyzed, tracked and issued positions on an unprecedented 473 vaccine related bills in 49 states through the NVIC Advocacy Portal. This was the highest number of bills in the history of NVIC’s advocacy program, which was established in 2010, and more than double the bills last year.

NVIC provides well-referenced, accurate information to the public about vaccine science, policy and law but does not make vaccine use recommendations. In 2010, NVIC launched the NVIC Advocacy Portal (NVICAP), a free online vaccine choice advocacy network, for the purpose of securing and defending informed consent protections in vaccine policies and laws.

Over the last 12 years, the NVIC Advocacy Program has analyzed, tracked and issued positions on close to 2,000 vaccine-related bills. NVICAP staff work alongside and share legislative information with many health freedom groups that support NVIC’s four-decade call for the protection of vaccine informed consent rights in America.

The NVIC Advocacy Portal team, including NVIC Advocacy state directors and aligned groups, work with families and enlightened health care professionals to educate legislators and protect vaccine informed consent rights. NVIC issues action alerts and sends them through email, posts them online and shares them through social media and our text alert program.

At the time this report was written, many states still have active vaccine-related bills filed in regular or special sessions; have bills prefiled for next legislative session or are in recess and will come back to work on bills; or have bills that carry over until next session, so it is especially important for everyone who uses the Portal to check in regularly.

Bills referenced in this report are published on the NVIC Advocacy Portal. Registered users can obtain a more detailed bill analysis, including current status, as well as NVIC’s position on the bill and recommended action.

Many bills published on the NVICAP also contain language that falls outside of NVIC’s mission, but analysis and positions published on the Portal are only focused sections of these bills that fall within NVIC’s mission.

Additionally, states and local regions both gained and lost rights this session from executive and local orders, but these orders were not tracked on the Portal attached to grassroots advocacy action items because they were not voted on, so there was no way for citizens to affect the outcome.

Highlights From 2021 to Date

There are significant positive take-away points from the initial outcomes of the 2021 legislative session:

• Out of the 30 passed bills that contained COVID-19 related measures, 29 were bills that had positive elements that protected vaccine informed consent rights and only one restricted rights. No state legislatures passed bills with COVID-19 mandates. The only COVID-19 vaccine mandates enacted so far were created by state governors, state or local officials, or by private employers.

• So far, 20 states have passed some form of protective language from COVID-19 vaccine mandates or vaccine passports in some capacity. These states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Specific protections are broken out in detail below.

• The 2021 legislative session featured 278 bills worthy of NVIC’s support, which is more than any legislative session since the launching of NVIC’s Advocacy Portal in 2010. This is up from only 18 good bills that NVIC supported in 2016.

This is the first year in which NVIC has supported more vaccine-related bills than we opposed, and the ratio of bills supported to bills opposed is more than 2-to-1. An impressive 29 positive bills supporting vaccine informed consent rights passed.

• Out of the 473 bills filed, NVIC supported 278 bills, opposed 130, and watched 65. Of the 65 bills being watched, there were 52 that included some positive elements.

• Out of the 55 vaccine-related bills that passed, NVIC supported 29 and opposed 14. Out of the 12 bills being watched, seven included some positive elements worthy of support.

The vaccine-related bills for the 2021 session that passed are broken out and described below by category.

2021 Passed Bill Analysis by Category

NVIC Advocacy has categorized the 55 bills that passed so far in 2021 in the following categories:

Some bills may be included in multiple categories. The NVIC Advocacy Team provides referenced, accurate vaccine information and talking points for NVICAP users to background legislators. Some of the position statements NVIC posted on the Advocacy Portal in 2021 were listed as bills to “watch.”

Sometimes this is done because our analysis indicated that the bill was well-intentioned, but contained some problems needing amending before we could support. Sharing this information resulted in many positive changes to bills.

The breakout and analysis of bills that passed in these different categories identifies trends across the states. This serves as a guide to educating your state legislators and community in 2021, and it shows why it is so important to speak up and protect vaccine informed consent rights. Your voice is making a difference!

COVID-19 Related Bills (30)

Many of the bills filed in 2021 attempted to protect people from being mandated to take a COVID-19 vaccine or being discriminated against for not showing proof of vaccination or post-infection recovery, including bills opposing vaccine passports in some form.

In November of 2020, NVIC Advocacy created and shared model language to address the real threat of vaccine mandates and forced vaccination in the states in all areas (society, employment, health care, emergency powers etc.) with NVIC state directors and leaders of groups that work closely with NVIC.

NVIC hosted a leader training session and, subsequently, these dedicated freedom and informed consent leaders reached out to their legislators, which assisted in the filing of bills in 49 states with various types of protection from COVID-19 vaccine passports or COVID-19 vaccine mandates. One of these bills, which was derived from NVIC model language — Texas SB 1669 — offered the most comprehensive protections of all state bills filed this legislative session.

Although SB 1669 did not pass in Texas, the amazing statements, which were made in public hearings by the bill's author, Texas doctors and citizens opposing proposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates, helped shift the public conversation for the country. Read NVIC’s full report on the May 6, 2021 historic hearing, which includes transcripts of selected testimony.

So far, 20 states have passed some form of protective language that prohibit COVID-19 vaccine passports or COVID-19 vaccine mandates in some capacity. These states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

Of the 30 COVID-19 related bills that passed, 29 were bills that had positive elements that protected informed consent rights and only one restricted informed consent rights. Importantly, no state legislature passed bills with COVID-19 mandates.

Regarding employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Montana passed legislation prohibiting this and Arizona passed legislation prohibiting teachers from being forced to be vaccinated in order to keep their jobs.

Prohibiting discrimination or segregation against those declining COVID-19 vaccines or preventing citizens from being required to show documentation of proof of COVID-19 vaccination (or showing a vaccine passport) has been included in bills passed in many states this year.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas all passed various types of bills prohibiting discrimination or a requirement to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in certain circumstances.

Students have gained protection from school COVID-19 vaccine mandates in certain circumstances in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana (disclosure of existing right to decline) Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Requirements to obtain parental consent to vaccinate minor children in certain circumstances have been added in North Carolina and Ohio.

COVID-19 vaccine mandates have been prohibited outright in certain circumstances in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Utah, and new rights to decline COVID-19 vaccines in certain circumstances were added in Arizona, Kentucky and Montana.

Citizens of Iowa and Indiana are protected from having their vaccine status tied to their drivers’ licenses or state identification, and Utah has prohibited specified financial incentives to vaccinate with taxpayer money. The only state to pass a bill limiting rights was Virginia, which penalizes unvaccinated workers in workman’s compensation benefits if they have COVID-19.

It is important to note that the COVID-19 mandates that are being implemented today have all been through orders by governors, state health or local officials, or by private employers. None has been enacted through passage of legislation by elected representatives in state legislatures. Some of the state governors have issued executive or emergency orders for COVID-19 mandates. These include:

Some state health agencies have issued rules or orders for COVID-19 vaccine mandates. These include:

• California Department of Public Health director and state public health officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón — Public Health Order — COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers;
• Colorado Board of Health — Emergency Rule 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 2, General Licensure Standards and the COVID-19 Vaccine — COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers;
• Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) — Emergency Order — COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers; and
• New York State Department of Health Board and commissioner of health Howard Zucker — order for summary action — COVID-19 vaccine mandates for staff and volunteers at hospitals and nursing homes.

Some local governments or departments have issued rules or orders for COVID-19 mandates. These include:

Some private employers who are already mandating COVID-19 vaccines are Facebook, Google, Microsoft, United Airlines, CNN, Ascension Health, Disney, Amtrak, and Goldman Sachs. Mixing government mandates with employer mandates, the San Antonio Independent School District and superintendent Pedro Martinez enacted an employment policy that all district employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The state of Texas is suing the school district to stop implementation of the mandatory vaccination policy because it is in violation of the Texas governor’s executive order that prohibits COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state. There are multiple lawsuits challenging these types of COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Looming on the horizon are threats of more COVID-19 vaccine mandates from President Joe Biden for federal workers in the executive branch, employers with 100 or more employees and military personnel in the armed forces.

Now more than ever, it is critical that people continue to be involved in the legislative process at all levels of city, county, state and federal government, which includes learning where candidates stand on issues important to your family and voting accordingly, and continuing to educate legislators, your governor and local officials in order to protect informed consent and reject discrimination, segregation and forced vaccination.