It's illegal for children to vote. It's illegal for children to choose to drink alcohol. It's illegal for children to drive. It's illegal for children to give consent for medical procedures. Yet, New York is planning to let children give consent for vaccinations, a potentially life-changing or destroying procedure, without parental consent? [Gaia Health]

Girl Staring Up at Syringe and New York (Photo of girl by Anthony Kelly, Syringe by William Rafti Institute)

by Christina England

On Monday, May 6, a new bill is to be brought to the New York State Assembly floor which will allow licensed physicians to administer preventative medical care for sexually transmitted diseases, including vaccines to minors without their parent's permission.

This will include the vaccinations for hepatitis B and HPV.

The reasoning behind the bill is that section 2305 of the public health law currently permits a licensed physician or a staff physician to diagnose and treat a person under the age of 21 infected or exposed to a sexually transmissible disease without the consent or knowledge of the parents or guardians.

The bill states that the current law does not allow young people the same access to care as adults to prevent sexually transmissible diseases.

A recent news story described a newborn being taken away from her mother shortly after birth because of the mother's refusal to accept a Hepatitis B vaccine. In my law practice, I also hear stories from time to time about newborns being vaccinated in the hospital after birth without the parents' permission and against the parents' wishes. Most of the time, these kind of problems are avoidable with a information about your rights and some common sense preparation.

The mother whose child was taken away had planned a home birth, and made the mistake of not having a contingency plan, a "Plan B" in case they ended up in the hospital, as some planned home births inevitably do for one reason or another. Once in the hospital, they refused the Hep B vaccine, but not in a manner consistent with their state's legal options. Sadly, we don't have the right to decide what goes into our and our children's bodies, at least not absolutely. As disturbing as that be to many of us, it's the legal reality. So, if you're expecting a baby, find out what your state's vaccine requirements and exemption options are!

These may vary from state to state, so go to an authoritative source—a site that posts the actual laws (links to three such sites are here (www.vaccinerights.com/exemptions.html), or to your local or state health department (call them or go to their website). Non-authoritative sources such as anti-vaccine websites mean well, and they often have great information about vaccine health concerns, but they also often misunderstand and misrepresent exemption rights and procedures, and some have lost rights by relying on them. Where legal rights are concerned, if it's important, it's worth getting right the first time.

Flu vaccines, according to the best scientific evidence available today, will only work against 10% of the circulating viruses that cause the symptoms of seasonal epidemic influenza. Additionally, flu vaccines have been found to elicit inflammatory reactions that may harm the human heart, the developing fetus, and the fragile immune systems of our infants. So, do the theoretical benefits really outweigh the known harms?

In a recent article, The Shocking Lack of Evidence Supporting Flu Vaccines, we addressed the surprising lack of empirical evidence supporting the use of flu vaccines in the prevention of seasonal influenza, in children under two, healthy adults, the elderly, and healthcare workers who care for the elderly.

The reality is that vaccines not only do not work as advertised, but they represent a significant health threat, likely on the same order of magnitude as influenza itself, due to their well-known role in compromising immunological self-tolerance (autoimmunity), as well as by eliciting a wide range of adverse health effects associated with the use of adjuvants, preservatives, foreign animal DNA and cell byproducts, adventitious viruses, and other so-called "inactive ingredients," including even the unnatural route and method of antigen administration itself.[i]