The Nevada Legislature is considering a bill, A.B. 123, which would force parents to allow their childrenβs vaccine exemption information to be shared with health officials who are all too likely to use this information to create pressure for the parents to vaccinate their children.
Nevada law requires vaccinations for a child to attend public or private school, but recognizes both medical and religious belief exemptions.Β Parents must submit a statement to the schoolβs board of trustees or the governing body of the school.
A.B. 123 requires that parents βconsentβ to that information being disclosed to the Health Department and the local health officer β with their childβs name and the school identified.Β And those officers can then share this private information with βcertain state and other local health authorities.β
A.B. 123 also requires that parents submit forms for a medical exemption every year; if the exemption is not submitted before the next school year, the child is kept out of school.
There is no good reason that childrenβs identities and schools should be disclosed to multiple government officials unconnected with their schooling!Β This is another form of vaccine tracking, and could all too easily be used to harass and shame children in their schools.
The Education Committee held a hearing on the bill last week at which many people testified against AB 123; the Committee left the bill pending.Β Itβs vital that Nevada residents speak up and send a clear message to their legislators that this bill should NOT move forward!
TAKE ACTION
Call or email your State Assembly member and urge them to oppose A.B. 123.
You can find out who represents you here:Β http://mapserve1.leg.state.nv.us/whoRU/
Calls are more effective than emails, and take only a few minutes! See some suggested talking points, below.
Sample call or email β use this to help you draft your own personalized comments about why this matters to you.Β Be sure to add a few sentences about why this matters to you!:βHi, my name is _____ and Iβm from [city/town].Β I am calling to urge Assembly Member ______ to protect childrenβs privacy and vote no on A.B. 123.
Parents already submit the necessary information for medical and religious belief exemptions from vaccines to their schools.Β A.B. 123 would require this information to be turned over to multiple government entities, with the childβs name and school information.
The reason for tracking individualsβ vaccination status like this is, as the CDC has acknowledged, to identify areas of βundervaccinationβ so they can be βaddressedβ and brought into βcomplianceβ β in other words, to create pressure on the parents and children to become vaccinated, despite their medical issues or religious objections.Β (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6133a2.htm)
Reporting students by name and school attended is in conflict with the principles of medical privacy under the federal medical privacy laws.
A.B. 123βs requirement that medical information be submitted every year is also unduly burdensome.Β If a child has a medical condition that makes it inadvisable for him or her to be vaccinated, their school should not be made contingent on annual paperwork.
As a constituent, I urge Assembly Member to vote no on A.B. 123.Β Thank you.β
MORE INFORMATION
Read the bill here: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6167/Text
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