In late 2021, school officials in Brattleboro, Vermont, hosted a clinic at which the COVID vaccine was administered to a 6-year-old child against his parents’ expressed wishes. Last month, a judge dismissed the family’s lawsuit against the school district and the State of Vermont.
Why? Because no one is responsible. In this case, the federal PREP Act offered blanket amnesty to everyone involved.
The official message is, “We can vaccinate your child against your wishes, and NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE.”
Unfortunately, the Brattleboro incident was not an isolated event. These kinds of things are continuing to happen. If you’d like to help put a stop to it, read further.
In 2022, we heard about an incident in a Nashua public school where a 7-year-old student was given the flu vaccine without parental consent. In testimony before a legislative study committee, NH state epidemiologist Benjamin Chan referred to this as a “never event.” That’s a medical term of art describing situations that should simply never, ever happen, like amputating the wrong limb, operating on the wrong patient, or leaving a surgical sponge inside a patient following surgery.
We were assured that this was an isolated incident and that NH health officials were doing everything in their power to make sure it didn’t happen again.
Except that it DID happen again.
Just a few weeks after Dr. Chan’s testimony, it happened at another school-based vaccine clinic in Rochester, NH. In this case, the parent made it overwhelmingly clear that she did NOT want her child to get the flu vaccine. Nevertheless, it happened.
These are just the cases that we know about.
If public health officials can vaccinate your children at school without your consent, and if no one is responsible for screw-ups, then what’s a parent to do?
I have spoken to numerous parents who recommend keeping a child home on days when vaccine clinics are scheduled to take place at their school. I can’t necessarily disagree with that advice, but there is a better solution: Let’s eliminate the possibility that these “never events” can occur at all.
House Bill 539 would prohibit K-12 public schools in our state from hosting vaccination clinics on school property during school hours. If a school chooses to host a clinic outside of school hours, the bill would require that a parent or guardian be present with their child.
The House Education Committee will hold a hearing on HB539 next Tuesday at 1:45 PM in LOB Room 205-207.
Here’s how you can help:
- Come to the hearing on Tuesday, FEB. 7th at 1:45 to testify in SUPPORT of the bill.
- Sign in to support the bill by visiting the remote sign-in page to register your support.
- Email members of the House Education Committee and ask them to vote “Ought to Pass” on House Bill 539. Click here to email All Education Committee Members.
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