It's official, New York Assembly Bill A 10942, the "worst vaccine
bill ever" and the mandatory meningococcal vaccine
bill it morphed into late in the session are dead. And they were
killed by parents who just aren't going to let pharma kick them around
anymore.
Another vaccine bill that would have allowed minors to get vaccines
for sexually-transmitted diseases without parents permission or knowledge
went down to an ignominious defeat when the Assembly Health committee
refused to even consider it.
This represents the fourth defeat in a row,
with no wins, for the vaccine industry in New York, last year a mandatory
HPV bill was killed.
As usual with most vaccine bills in New York, they were submitted
late in the session which limits the time that the opposition has
to make arguments against a proposal. The original A 10942 was submitted
at the request of the Health Department and would have caused a sweeping
restructuring of NY vaccine policy; all CDC recommended vaccines
would have become mandatory for all children, including those too
young to enter school, and all new CDC recommended vaccines would
automatically become mandatory.
A 10942 was greeted by a rally of hundreds
of parents from all around the state, many were parents of vaccine-injured
children, others though have healthy children and would like to see
them stay healthy. A broad cross section of organizations were involved;
autism organizations, holistic health groups, libertarians, and many
others came together for the first time in joint political action.
Legislative aides report a flood of phone calls, faxes, letters and
emails in opposition.
The legislature responded with scaling the
bill back to require the menigoccocal shot for seventh graders. This
new version was introduced last Friday and on Monday there were new
demonstrations by parents both in Albany and in front of the Long
Island office of State Senator Kemp Hannon who introduced the meningitis
legislation. The bill died today with the adjournment of
the legislature.
Future Plans
Organizers of the successful campaign
will be holding meetings and conferences to make sure that in the
next session of the legislature the philosophical exemption bills
sponsored by State Senator Frank Padavan and Assemblymember Mark
Alessi are passed. And in a new twist on vaccines rights, New Yorkers
will be working to introduce legislation that will drop vaccines
from the mandatory list. The first target
will be hepatitis b, a shot given to newborns ostensibly to prevent
a sexually transmitted disease.
Stay connected. |