Violation of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and Parental Rights
SB866 permits minor children 12 years and older to consent to any vaccine recommended by ACIP without a parent’s knowledge or consent.
Federal legislative history provides evidence that Congress never intended for a minor child to make decisions to get a vaccine without parents’ knowledge or consent.
When the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 198613 was passed, the Act clearly stated that before the administration of vaccines14 to a child, a health care provider shall give a copy of the CDC’s vaccine information materials to the, “parent or legal representative of any child to whom the provider intends to administer such vaccine…”
The CDC confirms that there is a requirement that their Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) is provided to the parent/legal guardian prior to vaccination of a minor child on their VIS Q&A page.15 Under the question, “Is there a requirement to verify that parents/legal representatives have actually received and reviewed the VIS,” the answer is a clear “YES”.
These requirements under federal law for a parent to be educated with CDC materials prior to their minor child being vaccinated will not be met if a child is allowed to make these decisions on their own.
The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the right of parents to be an active and integral part of their children’s lives as “perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by [the Supreme] Court.” Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (U.S. 2000)16
SB866 Endangers the Health and Well Being of Children
A minor child is far less likely than an adult parent to understand personal and family medical history, including vaccine reactions, allergies, and autoimmune or neurological disorders.
Children do not have the same kind of critical thinking skills or emotional maturity required to make a well-informed vaccine benefit-risk decision compared to an adult. Vaccines can cause injury and death as evidenced by the creation of a federally operated Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which has paid out more than $4.4 billion to vaccine victims.17
If a child consents to vaccination without their parent’s knowledge and has a reaction, the parent may not recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and the reason for their child’s sudden personality change and decline in physical, mental or emotional health; this lack of knowledge could be life threatening for the child. The parent’s lack of knowledge about the fact that their child was given vaccines that carry a risk of injury or death may well prevent the parent from seeking immediate medical care.
Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act18 Congress gave partial liability protection to vaccine manufacturers in 1986 and then added an amendment giving vaccine administrators liability protection from vaccine injury lawsuits in 1987. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court judges in Bruesewitz et al v. Wyeth et al19 affirmed that government licensed and recommended childhood vaccines were “unavoidably unsafe” and effectively removed all remaining liability from vaccine manufacturers. Today, pharmaceutical companies making and selling vaccines and doctors and other vaccine administrators have no legal accountability or financial liability in civil court when a mandated vaccine causes permanent injury or death.
There is no justification for the state to eliminate a parent’s legal and moral right to make an informed benefit and risk decision about vaccination on behalf of a minor child, especially when doctors and other vaccine providers have no liability or accountability for what happens to the child after vaccination.