Bill mandates the HPV vaccine

Commentary on Vaccine Legislation by Bonnie P. Franz. (I apologize the delay in posting these notes from Bonnie.)

Dear Friends,

Lots of things are going on regarding vaccination on the State and Federal levels so I wanted to give you my alert and perspective on it all.

New York State proposed legislation as of March 14, 2009 -
A.00778, sponsored by Assemblywoman Paulin (from Westchester County):

This bill mandates the HPV vaccine for “all children.” The word “all” means girls and boys. Most of this bill is based on Guttmacher Institute “research,” part of which states the reason for going into Middle School: ”Middle School is the last public health gate that an entire age group of individuals pass through together, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status” (especially because the dropout rate begins to increase at age 13). Governor Paterson has provided for $1.5 million for this vaccination in his 2009 budget.

The bill also states “When the CDC has recommended the vaccination of school-age children, New York adds such recommended vaccination to the list of vaccinations required for school entry.”

I gave you all the reasons to be against this mandate last year so I will not repeat them.

A.03203, sponsored by Assemblyman Benjamin (from The Bronx)
S.01983, sponsored by Assemblyman Diaz (from The Bronx) calls for “voluntary” vaccination for “school-aged children” against HPV through the provision of educational materials and consultation. “School-aged children” also means girls and boys.

Ask yourself: if you or most people were given a “consultation” about anything, are you more likely then to go along with it? Or do you think you or most people will be sufficiently strong to refuse it, especially when you didn’t ask for the consultation in the first place?

Something else to consider: isn’t it voluntary now? Why should the Legislature make a law about it then? To perhaps change it at some later date to mandate it quietly?

A.05159, sponsored by Assemblyman Conte (from Suffolk/Nassau) wants insurance coverage for the HPV vaccine (3 shots for $360).

Since 1993 and the Clinton Healthcare Reforms, immunizations are considered part of well-child care that must be covered. It gets somewhat murky, for there is the Federal-level Vaccines for Children Program giving out billions to see that children get vaccinated; Medicaid which pays for poor children to get vaccinated, and the somewhat infamous Schip --children’s health insurance program that has recently gotten a big blast of money.

Please keep in mind that “children’s health” programs primarily are to see that children get into doctors’ offices on a regular basis to get their shots. Before 1993, supposedly more than 60% of traditional policies in NYS did not provide coverage for immunizations and so-called well-child visits. The government could control those on public welfare and other programs to get shots, but they had to get the middle class in without shelling out more taxpayer money so they forced insurance companies to pay for this “preventive” care. This increased the cost to insurance companies, who then passed the costs on to their customers, as well as the costs to taxpayers for the “free vaccines.” On the NYS level back in 1993, initially Gov. Cuomo vetoed the bill because it was “riddled with technical flaws” and also because “it was more costly than necessary to accomplish its purposes.” He had other problems with the bill (like coverage to age 19) but was pressured by lobbyists and the Democrat-controlled Assembly to sign the bill. Then, as now, the push is to require health insurers to cover all immunizations recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. (However, things are changing with the Obama Administration and nationalized health care will somewhat change that.) Unfortunately, the bottom line will remain the same--to see that every man, woman and child get every vaccine and that the Government controls more of our lives and that of our children.

A.03706, sponsored by Assemblywoman John (from Monroe County--Rochester and area) authorizes the Dept. of Health (DOH) to do a feasibility study of establishing a school-based influenza program to increase immunization rates.

Remember that if this passes, so can the school-based program be amended in future years to include other vaccines.

A.00775, sponsored by Assemblywoman Paulin, provides for “educational materials “on flu and the benefits of vaccines.”

The justification for this is to follow ACIP changes to the vaccine schedule. Also interesting is that it provides for only giving information on the benefits of vaccines and does not recognize the “other“ side--so much for true informed consent. However, typical of the Legislature.

Please check the Assembly web site at www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg and put in the word “vaccinations” or “immunizations” to check for the proposed laws. Pay special attention to who is sponsoring or co-sponsoring the bill and see if your lawmaker is among them. Also note the bottom of the bill section “Fiscal Implications.” Here the Legislature usually claims “none to State” or “minimal.” That is a lie. Vaccinations and the continual mandated increase in them increase the amount of money needed from the State or Federal government and increase not only our taxes, but also increases Government control over us.

A.0486 (Alessi) and S.2337 (Padavan):
These bills are the “philosophical exemption” bill. Unfortunately, there is not much hope of passage again this year, especially because there are hardly any co-sponsors (Padavan’s bill has none as of 3/11). Besides the usual reasons why I don’t think these bills have much of a chance, a turnoff is the very long and somewhat complicated “justification” section. It just goes into too much for the law-makers to comprehend and accept.

A.02957 (Ortiz) and S.01034 (LaValle):
This bill has been referred to the Agriculture and Consumer Protection committees. The bill provides that anyone who manufactures or sells nutritional or dietary supplements needs to have a branding or labeling that states the product has or has not been tested by the FDA (new FDA commissioner is scheduled to be Dr. Margaret Hamburg former Health Commissioner in NYC). It further provides the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets to promulgate rules and regulations defining the terms “nutritional” and “dietary.” The justification for this bill is supposedly to assure the consumer that the product has been tested “for purity.” This is a bad bill because it gives the Commissioner of Agriculture the power to define what is nutritional or dietary. This is a way to control our access to what WE know to be nutritional and dietary supplements. This would affect anyone who uses supplements for any health condition (such as autism) and is satisfied with using these alternative to drugs to manage various health conditions where we are not satisfied with the approach of regular medicine. Also, the rules and regulations sections gives the Commissioner of Agriculture a WIDE berth to determine almost anything the Commissioner wants or is influenced to do. Purity is an important issue (esp. since we’ve seen what contamination comes out of China, including their herbal supplements) so it seems important for us. However, the FDA has a poor track record with drugs and testing, and it is an easy leap to go from assessing purity to anything else the FDA wants to give a hard time, especially things like vitamins and other supplements. An interesting dilemma. Too bad there is not a round table that includes vitamin manufacturers, etc. instead of this being so one-sided.

March 24 there will be a rally in Albany for Autism Epidemic Day, sponsored by Autism United Coalition which includes immunizations because many parents believe that vaccines have caused , in part or completely, their child’s autism. If you are interested, please contact Lisa Rudley at LisaRudley @yahoo.com. Lisa heads Healing With Homeopathy Support Group in Westchester County, an organization for parents healing vaccine-injured children and supporting legislative action. If you can, go. If you cannot attend, give your support by calling, writing or visiting your lawmaker’s office in the home district on a Thursday or Friday. (Check your local library to find out the addresses and phone numbers). In any event, remember the following: Every person who contacts their lawmaker or attends the rally is counted as representing 100 people by lawmakers.

Alone, we can do little or nothing. Standing together, we can accomplish much. Even if your child is not affected by autism, it is that group that is getting noticed and heard by our lawmakers and the media.

The fear of disease and the politics of health care allow public health powers to the government--State and Federal--that trample on our rights.

These lawmakers have been in Albany pretty much for 10, 20, 30 years. Unless they truly show signs of changing their opinions and their votes, they really will NOT change and just string us along. All they truly understand is losing an election. Now is the time to find others who believe in Healthcare Rights, including vaccination, who will be the opponents come the next Election in 1 ½ years. And, maybe they’ll win!

Sincerely,
Bonnie P. Franz