WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VACCINE LAWS IN AMERICA

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
VACCINE LAWS IN AMERICA
The National Vaccine Information Center
(NVIC) is a non-profit charity founded in 1982
by parents of vaccine injured children to
prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through
public education and defend the ethical
principle of informed consent to medical
risk-taking.
NVIC and Mercola.com are partners in presenting
you with accurate information about
heath and vaccination and encouraging you
to stand up for your right to make informed,
voluntary vaccination decisions.
I am joining with Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounder
and president of the National Vaccine
Information Center, to urge you to remember three basic facts when you are
taking control of your health by making vaccine and other health care choices for
yourself or your child:
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INFORMED CONSENT IS A HUMAN RIGHT
The right to voluntary, informed consent to a medical intervention, including
use of a pharmaceutical product such as a vaccine that can injure
or kill you or your child, is a human right.
While the State may have the legal authority to mandate use of vaccines,
nobody has the moral authority to FORCE you to get vaccinated or vaccinate
your child without your voluntary, informed consent.
VACCINE LAWS HAVE EXEMPTIONS
In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the legal authority of state
governments to pass laws requiring citizens residing in the state to use
certain vaccines.
Today, all 50 states have enacted vaccine laws that require proof of vaccination
for children to attend daycare, elementary, junior and high school
and college.
Vaccine requirements vary from state to state and all 50 states allow a
medical exemption to vaccination; 48 states allow a religious exemption
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to vaccination; and 18 states allow a personal, philosophical or conscientious
belief exemption to vaccination.
To look at a map of the U.S. and find out what your state vaccine law says
and which exemptions you may take and how to take them, click here.
3 FREEDOM IS NOT FREE: BECOME A VACCINE CHOICE ADVOCATE
Many state governments now require nearly three dozen doses of more
than a dozen vaccines to attend school. Medical and religious exemptions
are becoming harder to get and exemptions for reasons of conscience
are under attack by proponents of forced vaccination.
The National Vaccine Information Center is working with citizens in all
states to expand or protect legal exemptions to vaccination. To register
for NVIC’s Advocacy Portal and take action in YOUR state, click here.
SIX PRINCIPLES FOR PROTECTING
VACCINE CHOICES
FIRST PRINCIPLE: It’s Your CHOICE
When exercising your right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccination for
yourself or your child, remember that state vaccine laws contain:
(1) Legal requirements which school and health officials are responsible for enforcing;
and
(2) Legal exemptions which you have the legal right to choose to exercise. (Public
schools must al low vaccine exemptions outlined outlined in state vaccine laws,
but private religious or other non-state operated schools may reject vaccine
exemptions.)
Most state vaccine laws do not allow unvaccinated students with vaccine exemptions
to attend school during confirmed outbreaks of certain infectious diseases
for defined periods of time.
Remember: Nobody has the moral authority to force you or your child to be
injected with a vaccine without your voluntary, informed consent and you have
the legal right to exercise exemptions to vaccination according to the laws in your
state.
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SECOND PRINCIPLE: You Have the Right to KNOW
You have the legal right to know the risks and complications of vaccines BEFORE
you make the choice of whether or not to allow your child to be vaccinated.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 directed all doctors and
other vaccine providers to give parents written information about vaccines BEFORE
children are vaccinated.
Remember: All vaccines and other pharmaceutical
products carry a risk of injury or death and those
risks can be greater for some than others.
Never agree to use a vaccine, drug or other product
without fully informing yourself about ALL risks.
The product information insert, which drug companies
by law must include with every vial of vaccine
provided to public health clinics and private doctors’
offices, includes a description of the vaccine’s
reported reactions and precautions.
You can ask for a copy of that vaccine information
insert from your doctor or state health department
or go to www.NVIC.org or www.NVICadvocacy.org
for copies of vaccine product information inserts.
THIRD PRINCIPLE: Be INFORMED and Prepared
Knowledge is power. Arm yourself with accurate information about vaccination
and health. Do your own research and talk to one or more trusted health care
professionals before you make any health care decision.
Become an educated consumer and you will be empowered to defend your right
to freely make voluntary choices about health, including vaccination, for yourself
and your children. Visit the National Vaccine Information Center website at www.
NVIC.org or www.NVICadvocacy.org for more information about vaccines and
health.
Remember: If you arm yourself with accurate information about vaccines and
health, you will be prepared to intelligently and rationally discuss your vaccine
choices with your family, friends, colleagues, doctors, elected officials and others
in your community.
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FOURTH PRINCIPLE: Take RESPONSIBILITY for Your Words and Actions
When you are standing up for
your right to know, and freedom to
choose, whether or not to vaccinate
yourself or your child, how you go
about exercising your rights will
determine whether or not you will
succeed.
In your contact with doctors, school
or government health officials,
remain calm but politely firm when
explaining and defending the vaccine choice you have made.
If you are treated with disrespect or are harassed in any way by a doctor or
government official, do not engage in an unproductive argument. You may want
to contact an attorney, your elected state representatives or local media if you or
your child are threatened.
To publicly post a report of harassment for your vaccine choice, click here.
Remember: Treat others as you want to be treated, even if you are being attacked
or harassed for the vaccine choice you have made.
Protect yourself and your family by seeking legal or other expert counsel, if necessary.
Serve as an example for others in your community whenever you defend your
right to exercise voluntary, informed consent to vaccination, including the right to
decline to use one or more vaccines for yourself or your child.
FIFTH PRINCIPLE: Keep WRITTEN Records
Be sure to ask your doctor for copies of your medical records or your child’s medical
records, including recorded information about vaccinations and illnesses. Under
the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, doctors and other vaccine
providers are required by federal law to:
write down any serious health problems that occur after
vaccination in a child’s permanent medical record;
keep a permanent record of all vaccines given, including the
manufacturer’s name and lot number; and
Report serious health problems, hospitalizations injuries and deaths
that occur after vaccination to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events
Reporting System (VAERS). (If your doctor won’t report, you have the
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SIXTH PRINCIPLE: Be COURAGEOUS
It is not easy to stand up for the right to make informed, voluntary choices about
vaccination when public health officials, the pharmaceutical industry and many
medical doctors are putting pressure on all Americans, especially parents, to use
every government recommended vaccine.
The fact that the numbers of doses of government mandated vaccines have tripled
in the past quarter century, while the numbers of chronically ill and disabled
children have also tripled, offers an opportunity to have a long overdue public
conversation about the effects of vaccination on individual and public health.
Remember: Freedom of thought and exercise of free speech is protected under
the US Constitution.
You have the right to talk privately and publicly about any concerns you have
about vaccine necessity, safety and effectiveness, and to work with your elected
officials to modify the vaccine laws in your state.
Become an engaged, courageous citizen activist and protect your right to make
vaccine choices.
right to make a vaccine reaction report to VAERS).
Remember: It is wise to keep written records of your interactions with doctors,
school and health officials that involve vaccine choices you make, as well as
Medical Exemptions: All 50 states allow
medical exemption to vaccination.
Medical exemptions to vaccination must be
written by a medical doctor (M.D.) or doctor of
osteopathy (D.O.) and are usually reviewed annually
by school or state health officials.
Since 1986, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have
eliminated most officially recognized medical reasons for withholding vaccination
(contraindications) so that almost no medical condition qualifies for a medical
exemption to vaccination.
In most states, school or state public health officials can question or even deny a
VACCINATION AND U.S. LAW
A BRIEF SUMMARY
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medical exemption to vaccination written by a doctor if it does not strictly conform
to CDC and AAP contraindication guidelines.
The National Vaccine Information Center is committed to working with citizens
who want to change vaccine laws to prevent state school or health officials from
questioning or denying a medical exemption to vaccination written by a doctor,
nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant. If you want to take action in your state
to modify the medical exemption to vaccination, register for the NVIC Advocacy
Portal at www.NVICadvocacy.org
Religious Exemptions: All but two states (West Virginia and Mississippi)
allow religious exemption to vaccination.
These exemptions are worded differently in different states and require different
forms of written documentation that must be submitted to state governments
supporting a sincerely held religious belief opposing vaccination.
Some states require a notarized affidavit or letter from a spiritual advisor attesting
to the sincerity of a person’s religious beliefs about vaccination. The religious
exemption is under attack and, in some states like New York, parents are being
grilled about the sincerity of their religious beliefs by state officials and denied
religious exemptions to vaccination so their partially or completely unvaccinated
children cannot attend public schools.
The National Vaccine Information Center is committed to working with citizens,
who want to protect their right to religious exemption to vaccination, to add or
re-write the religious exemption in state vaccine laws. If you would like to work in
your state to protect or strengthen the religious exemption to vaccination, register
for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at www.NVICadvocacy.org
Conscientious Belief Exemptions: 18 states allow conscientious, personal
or philosophical belief exemption to vaccination. These states come the
closest to protecting a citizen’s right to exercise voluntary, informed consent to
vaccination in America. They are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana,
Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode
Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin
This exemption, like the religious exemption, is under attack by forced vaccination
proponents who want to eliminate non-medical exemptions to vaccination in
America.
The National Vaccine Information Center is committed to working with citizens
who want to protect or add conscientious belief exemption in state vaccine laws.
If you want to take action in your state to protect or add the conscientious belief
exemption to vaccine laws in your state, register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at
www.NVICadvocacy.org
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Vaccine Exemptions for Military Personnel: All branches of the U.S.
Armed Services provide medical and
religious exemptions to vaccination, but
those exemptions must be first declared
before enlistment in the military.
If a military recruit does not clearly state a
medical or religious objection to vaccination
BEFORE joining the military, he or she
gives up the right to object to vaccination
Other Vaccine Exemption Issues: Vaccine choices also can affect adoption,
immigration, child custody arrangements during divorce proceedings,
eligibility for health insurance and government entitlement programs, and medical
care.
Children adopted from foreign countries as well as in the U.S. may be required by
US law and adoption agencies to receive certain government mandated vaccines.
Immigration laws also contain vaccine requirement provisions.
In cases of divorce, one parent may attempt to gain full custody of a minor child
by using the vaccine choice issue as leverage.
Some families have been dropped from medical insurance plans or barred from
eligibility for government funded medical care and food supplement programs if
children are not given all government recommended vaccines.
Increasingly, pediatricians are refusing to treat children who are not fully vaccinated
and, in some instances, medical personnel in hospital emergency rooms and
physicians’ offices have reported parents to state child social services agencies
for child medical neglect for refusing to vaccinate their children. In these circumstances,
you may need to consult to protect informed consent rights.
LEGAL OPTION
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 was passed by Congress to
protect vaccine manufacturers and vaccine providers from liability for vaccine
injuries and deaths in civil court.
If a child is injured by a government recommended or mandated vaccine, the
child must sue the Secretary of Health for damages under the Act in the U.S. Court
of Claims in Washington, D.C.
If the vaccine injured child is turned down for federal compensation or offered
too little to provide for the child’s lifetime care, a lawsuit may be filed in civil court
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against a vaccine manufacturer or negligent doctor with certain restrictions.
By 2010, more than $2 billion had been awarded to vaccine victims for brain
inflammation and immune system damage leading to permanent injury or death,
even though two out of three children are turned away for federal compensation.
When you or your child is injured
by a vaccine, the risks are 100 percent,
and you will be left to deal
with the consequences.
Those who make and give vaccines
are protected from liability
in civil court, and federal vaccine
injury compensation is very difficult
to get.
There is no guarantee that a vaccine will, in fact, protect against an infectious
disease or that exposure to an infectious disease will cause a complication,
injury or death. Good health is about so much more than vaccination
and preventing experience with infectious disease.
Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry a risk of injury or death
that is greater for some than others. The right to informed consent to medical
risk-taking is a human right.
Empowering ourselves with information and taking responsible action to
protect the right to exercise voluntary, informed consent to vaccination
in America is one of the most important actions we can take as citizens to
protect our freedom.
Don’t let anyone force you or your child to take a vaccine without your
voluntary, informed consent.
If a doctor denies you or your child medical care because you want to make
vaccine choices, find another doctor.
If a doctor threatens you, or if a government official denies a medical or
religious exemption that you have legally filed, find an attorney to help you.
If you don’t like the vaccine laws in your state, contact your elected officials
and work to change them.
Together, we can educate the public and reform vaccine laws in America
to protect the right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions for
ourselves and our children.
THE BOTTOM LINE
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
On the website of the National Vaccine Information Center under Diseases
& Vaccines there is information and links to resources that will educate you
about infectious diseases and vaccines.
Vaccines.Mercola.com
State Laws & Vaccine Exemption Information
Become a Vaccine Choice Advocate in your state to protect vaccine exemptions.
Register for NVIC’s Advocacy Portal at www.NVICadvocacy.org
If you have been harassed for your vaccine choices, make a report here
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