by Staff Reporter | Mar 12, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A top professor at the University of Arizona (U of A) accused the lawmaker behind legislation effectively banning vaccine mandates of being a “Nazi.”
Elizabeth “Beth” Jacobs, professor emeritus in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at U of A, posted the accusation against Rep. Nick Kupper (R-LD25) on Bluesky.
“‘Just because I am at risk doesn’t mean I can invade your body because of my risk factor. That’s not okay,’” quoted Jacobs. “These are the words of AZ state rep Nick Kupper (R, Nazi Germany) in sharing his belief that immunocompromised people don’t deserve to be protected by vaccine requirements for school entry.”
In response, Kupper mocked the idea that his opposition to state-imposed medical mandates was akin to the tactics of a dictatorship notorious for its state mandates.
The bill, HCR 2056, goes beyond vaccines. The resolution would allow voters to decide whether Arizonans should have a new constitutional right to refuse medical mandates imposed by government entities.
The resolution did provide carveouts for court-ordered mental health or substance use disorder treatments, evidence collection by law enforcement and probation officers, medical decisions by parents, and reporting and tracking medical products or treatments by health care providers.
The Arizona House passed the bill last week along party lines, with all Democrats against the resolution and all Republicans in favor of it.
On the House floor, Kupper described the resolution as the fullest realization of bodily autonomy. The representative said the resolution wouldn’t stop the refusal of admission to those who are actively sick or infected.
“No state in this nation has ever asked its voters whether they want the ability to make their own medical decisions or whether they want the state to make medical decisions for them, and that’s a travesty,” said Kupper. “It just doesn’t allow the state to prescribe the method in which you want to better yourself.”
On Monday, Jacobs and visiting U of A professor James Alwine issued an opinion article accusing Kupper and other Republican lawmakers of regressing healthcare in the state.
The two professors argued that an increase in the unvaccinated population would cause vaccines to be less effective due to increased viral and bacterial mutations. Jacobs and Alwine claimed the number of dead and permanently disabled children would increase.
Ultimately, Jacobs and Alwine declared that medical freedom had no place in civilized society.
“This is the disastrous consequence of ‘medical freedom,’ where the right to life and liberty is ignored in order to boost a selfish agenda,” said Jacobs and Alwine. “‘Medical freedom’ is the antithesis of community, but Arizona Republicans do not seem to care about that.”
Jacobs indicates from her other online postings that she generally believes those who lean right politically have criminal behaviors.
In a more recent repost, Jacobs advocated for ICE agents accused of placing bets on detainees most likely to die by suicide to be sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which imposes punishments on individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Dec 14, 2022 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded $7.3 million to the University of Arizona (UArizona) for a study on “long COVID.” Aiding this research will be the Arizona Department of Health Services and UArizona’s CoVHORT system: a data collection effort launched early in the pandemic that contains over 8,500 participants.
UArizona is one of multiple research facilities throughout the nation examining post-COVID-19 conditions. Temple University, the University of Indiana, and Comagine Health will also conduct studies. UArizona researchers will estimate post-COVID-19 complications based on health care record data, and track the conditions of at least 1,000 individuals over the next two years.
In addition to regular scientific researchers, UArizona included the interim assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the multimillion-dollar study: Velia Leybas Nuno.
The remainder of the research team includes Sydney Pettygrove, associate research professor; Leslie Farland, assistant professor and BIO5 Institute member; Felina Cordova-Marks, assistant professor; Kacey Ernst, professor and program director of epidemiology; Elizabeth Jacobs, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics; Pamela Garcia-Filion, College of Medicine-Phoenix associate research professor; Vignesh Subbian, College of Engineering assistant professor and Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics associate director; and Vern Pilling, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics director.
UArizona’s research arises from the Biden administration’s April announcement that it was accelerating research efforts to understand long COVID.
The CDC defines “long COVID,” also called “post-COVID conditions” (PCC), as a vague and varying array of symptoms that could last indefinitely and impact anyone who’s had any degree of COVID-19 infection — in some cases, even those who never tested positive for COVID.
Symptoms include, but aren’t limited to: fatigue, brain fog, labored breathing, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, chest pain, cough, joint or muscle pain, depression, anxiety, fever, sleep problems, pins-and-needles, diarrhea, stomach pain, rash, change in menstrual cycles, and change or loss of taste or smell. These symptoms may lead to damage of the lungs, heart, kidneys, neurological system, circulatory system, and mental health.
The CDC didn’t definitively state that unvaccinated individuals had a greater risk of long COVID than the vaccinated. No tests exist to diagnose long COVID.
Concurrent with the rise of “long COVID” is a rise in adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine. Symptoms of the two ailments overlap consistently.
Last July, on the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Biden administration classified long COVID as a disability. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights and DOJ Civil Rights Division devised the long COVID disability guidance.
The ADA prevents discrimination based on disability. This includes additional time on tests for students, accommodations for customers who can’t stand for long periods of time in line, refueling assistance at a gas station for a disabled customer, and even service animal assistance for those who grow dizzy while standing for long periods of time.
The Biden administration also shared that it is looking to identify demographic patterns in long COVID victims in order to achieve equity, the health burdens and financial costs that the phenomenon incurs, and whether COVID vaccines do reduce long COVID.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
