4-H Vax Mandate Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. As we watch Governor Inslee’s COVID vaccine mandate spread to more and more people connected with state government … we’re now seeing it spread to the fringes.
State Senator Judy Warnick is one of a group of Senate Ag leaders calling for the removal of the vaccine mandate for 4-H volunteers …
WARNICK … “I am afraid it is going to severely impact the 4-H program because the head of 4-H or the administrative program for 4-H is WSU, through their extension office, but it lives and dies on volunteers. Nobody is paid to administer the 4-H program. It’s all volunteers.”
And most of the volunteers, Warnick says are family …
WARNICK … “Almost all the volunteers are either parents or grandparents or neighbors, and older kids.”
Warnick says this will be an even bigger hardship in rural communities …
WARNICK … “If we don’t have volunteers, especially in our smaller, rural areas, we won’t have a 4-H program. And that’s very important to a lot of rural kids.”
Warnick says she’s hearing a lot of concern from 4-H leaders worried the mandate will make it harder for the program to run effectively, if at all.
Tune in tomorrow for more on the COVID vaccine mandate for 4-H volunteers.
