U.S. Senator Braun largely opposes bans on private employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates

Updated Dec. 9 at 8:58 a.m.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said he doesn’t support government mandates around the COVID-19 vaccine – including efforts to stop companies from requiring it.

Braun is currently leading a bipartisan fight in Congress to halt President Joe Biden’s rule that would force companies with at least 100 employees to either get their workers vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.

READ MORE: What laws say about religious exemptions and how Indiana lawmakers could change them

The GOP senator said he thinks the cost of losing employees outweighs the benefits of getting more people vaccinated against a virus that’s still killing about two dozen Hoosiers a day.

“Because we’ve been spending trillions of dollars to get businesses to keep their employees through this whole venture,” Braun said.

But Braun also isn’t backing measures that would prevent companies from requiring the vaccine on their own. Indiana Statehouse Republicans are currently pushing a bill that would effectively do just that.

“I’m a little apprehensive on that happening simply because of what it might mean to where you’d try to impact businesses in their own decisions on other issues down the road – the precedent it might set,” Braun said.

Braun encouraged people to get the vaccine, calling it a "miracle."

CLARIFICATION: The headline for this story has been updated to reflect the nuance of U.S. Senator Braun's position on vaccine mandates.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.