This is from Vermont Microbiologist and Homeopath Jennifer R. Stella, who is testifying at the State House on behalf of Vermont parents who exercise our right to vaccine exemptions for our children. This is about our right to choose.
Vermont Senate Bill S.199 proposes to take away our choice. Please contact your Reps and Senators in Montpelier, and make your voice heard.
Vermont has a well-established culture of tolerance towards difference in opinion and behavior. Lately, this tolerance has been challenged during discussion over whether or not parents may be solely responsible to weigh risks and benefits of medical interventions such as vaccines for their own children. Vermont’s vision for health care policy should not be about demonizing parents who want to make health care decisions for their own families such as the bills introduced in both the house (H.527) and the senate (S.199) this year. Both bills seek to eliminate or redefine the philosophical exemptions, which are available in 20 states in the US today, including Vermont.
Last week many citizens, parents and healthcare providers alike, voiced their concerns in a hearing at the state house. Proponents of removing or restricting the Vermont philosophical exemption from even one or a few vaccinations on the CDC schedule cite dangers to public health, have threatened removal from school and seem unfazed by the fact that compensation for vaccine-induced injuries totals over $2 billion since 1986.
Vaccination rates in VT were an improvement over last year and range from 82.9%-96% for different vaccines, so it seems unclear why the philosophical exemption is even at issue here. Perhaps the broader medical community would like to have more say in what a parent’s decision should be; Parents and nurses present at the meeting requested that the bill be dropped because, they believe strongly that only they can decide what level of risk versus benefit is acceptable for their family and children.
According to a new book entitled, Vaccine Epidemic by Louise Kuo Habakus, MA and Mary Holland, JD, philosophical exemptions from vaccination are clearly defined, constitutional rights protecting a citizen’s life, liberty and property (5th and 14th amendments) from events such as forced or even coerced vaccinations that carry known risks. Any form of a mandatory vaccination program in Vermont - even one that would require a medical/second party sign off for permission to opt out - treads on our basic rights.
A lot has changed since the 1980’s, when vaccine manufacturers cried that vaccines were not worth producing because there was no money in them. Vermont now requires 20 injections by the age of eighteen (18) months old in following with the national CDC schedule. The federal government now holds a percentage from sales of vaccines in a trust fund to cover liability costs for injuries, and more vaccines are in the pipeline. The vaccine market is now regarded as a refuge of sales and profit for big pharma, a segment resilient to economic recession, and determined to take away parental choice in Vermont at some time in the not so-near future. Parents maintain that their right to choose to say “no” to one or a few vaccines not suitable for their children (chicken pox vaccine is one example), is becoming increasingly important.
If you are concerned about losing your right to choose, or bothered by the potential requirement for an M.D. to sign off on your next family healthcare decision, call or write to your congressperson TODAY [Go to VoteSmart.org, enter your zipcode and click on State Legislative]. The next hearing on this is scheduled for tomorrow, Feb 8, 2012 at 8:30 am.
