Proposed 2017 NYS vaccination laws

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you because of the proposed 2017 NYS laws eliminating or undermining religious exemptions to vaccination, mandating HPV and flu vaccines, undermining parental roles and responsibilities, and increasing government ability to do more than quarantine. The following proposed bills threaten religious liberty and parental rights:

S52 and A1810 would repeal the religious exemption.

S3546 and A4894 would require, for a religious exemption, an affidavit signed by a physician stating the physician has explained the medical risks of failure to immunize. (This is a form of intimidation. It undermines the intent of religious exemption and imposes medical reasons.)

S132 and A933 would mandate the HPV vaccine for all children born after January 1, 1996.

S5611 and A2469 would allow treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, including immunization, without parent or guardian consent.

S6346 and A1230 would mandate flu vaccine for children in daycare.

S2955 and A3912 would require school districts to report to the state Department of Education the number of exemptions requested, granted, and denied. (Schools already report exemptions to the Department of Health. To mandate they also report to the Ed. Dept. is a subtle form of intimidation of the school districts.)

A439 would provide for control and reporting of communicable diseases.

A680 would allow for removal of cases, contacts, carriers of communicable diseases who are “potentially” dangerous to the public health.

For more details about each bill, see the NYS Senate website at http://nyassembly.gov/leg/ or the NYS Assembly website at https://www.nysenate.gov/search/legislation and enter the bill number, for example “S52” or “A1810.”

Over the years I have discussed information regarding vaccines, most recently information on the HPV, hep. B and flu vaccines. Considering that the drug companies and the CDC and NYS Health Dept. have been pushing the HPV vaccine mandate for almost 10 years, one has to wonder what is going on and why! This becomes most egregious and sinister when paired with bills to take away religious exemptions and parental rights and responsibilities by allowing minors of any age to “request” the HPV and Hep. B vaccines without parental consent. If it is so important to the health of all children that these vaccines be given, there already are laws that could be pursued relating to child neglect or abuse. The truth seems to be that these bills have more to do with obliterating parental roles and increasing government control! As for minors requesting treatment for STD – minors can easily be intimidated by doctors and nurses or school officials. Also, minors are not truly capable of understanding various side effects. This bill also undermines parental rights.

To me, most of the proposed laws are meant to take away religious liberty and parental rights and use the mantra of “for the health of our children” to do so. I am very wary of giving additional power to health officials and I hope you are too.

If these proposed bills concern you, then I urge you to contact your State Senator and Assemblymember ASAP. The session ends in a few weeks and now is the time that these bills get pushed through. (One of my government contacts said NOW is the time to call them, so their staff can flag the bills and alert the lawmaker). So, please call your lawmaker's local office and tell the aide which bills you oppose and urge your lawmaker to vote NO on each.

To find out who your state senator is: https://www.nysenate.gov/registration/nojs/form/start/find-my-senator.
To find out who your state assembly person is: http://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/

Bonnie Franz