A South Dakota Republican state senator who was stripped of her committee assignments said Thursday that her legislative punishment followed an exchange she had with a legislative aide about vaccinations.

Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, a Republican, told reporters that she had spoken to a member of the Legislature's research staff this week about her views on vaccinations. The senator, who is part of a right-wing group of Statehouse Republicans, has opposed vaccination requirements in schools.

RIGHT-WING SOUTH DAKOTA STATE SENATOR LOSES COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

The Republican-controlled Legislature in recent years has seen separate proposals to limit requirements for both the COVID-19 vaccine and childhood vaccines. Frye-Mueller said she did not bring up the COVID-19 vaccine during her exchange with the aide.

Childhood vaccines have long been celebrated as public health success stories, but vaccination rates among kindergarteners have dropped nationwide in recent years. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that decreased confidence in vaccines is a likely contributor, as well as disruptions to routine health care during the pandemic.

SOUTH DAKOTA LEGISLATORS PUSH TO TEACH AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM IN PUBLIC EDUCATION

Falling vaccination rates open the door to outbreaks of diseases once thought to be in the rearview mirror, experts say.

Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, who presides over the Senate and made the decision to remove Frye-Mueller from two committee assignments Wednesday, has repeatedly declined to comment on the move.

The Senate Republican leader, Sen. Casey Crabtree, said Thursday the episode involved a personnel issue and more information would be released in the future.

An MSNBC panel sounded the alarm after Meta reinstated former President Trump on Facebook and Instagram, claiming that the decision could cripple American democracy.

During Thursday's "Morning Joe," Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway, historian Jon Meacham, and left-wing New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay collectively panned Meta for the move.

Conway said the decision was both "mystifying" and "ridiculous," adding he was "very worried" about the potential impact on U.S. democracy.

"They think, ‘Well oh, the fire’s out, so even though this guy has a cache of matches and gasoline that he carries around with him, let's let him just play with matches again," Conway said.

LIBERALS LOSE IT AFTER ACLU DEFENDS TRUMP BEING REINSTATED TO FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM: ‘ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS’

Meacham referred to the move as a "devil's bargain" between Facebook and Trump, with the former needing more money and the latter needing a shot of relevance.

"If you are one of these companies, do you want to be the means by which an autocrat mounts an assault on the Constitution itself?" he asked.

Speaking to the more significant implications of the decision, Meacham said the former president's return to the social media platforms underscores a battle between a "Trumpian autocracy" and the current constitutional republic. He also claimed Trump has never been censored.

TIKTOK, META SUED BY SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR ALLEGEDLY WREAKING MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS AMONG STUDENTS

Gay, who has previously voiced concern about Trump's place in American politics, as well as his supporters, compared Meta's decision to past instances of chemical companies supporting the infrastructure that creates weapons of war.

"As a country or as a company, you don't want to hand over the keys to democracy to have someone destroy that democracy. Do you want to be that institution that really helps take down the country?" she asked.

Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, said the company determined Trump is no longer a "serious risk to public safety," and they had "guardrails" in place for his return.

"To assess whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has sufficiently receded, we have evaluated the current environment according to our Crisis Policy Protocol, which included looking at the conduct of the U.S. 2022 midterm elections, and expert assessments on the current security environment," Clegg wrote.

"Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out. As such, we will be reinstating Mr. Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks. However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses."

The suspension was initially instated following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when the platform said it would be booting Trump "indefinitely" for his alleged involvement.