nj health council votes dec 10 on new

NJ Health Council Votes Dec. 10 On New Vaccine Mandates

by Barbara Loe Fisher

The New Jersey Public Health Council is scheduled to meet on Monday,

December 10, 2007 at 11 a.m. to vote on whether to approve adoption of

rules written by the New Jersey Department of Health that would

require children to get three doses of pneumoccocal vaccine and two

doses of influenza vaccine to attend daycare or pre-school and one

dose each of tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (TdaP) and meningococcal

vaccine to attend sixth grade. If the Council votes to approve the new

mandates sought by state public health officials, the mandates will

apply to all children entering daycare or school on September 1, 2008.

The NJ Public Health Council meeting will be held on Dec. 10 at 11 a.m

in the Auditorium (1st Floor) of the New Jersey Department of Health

and Senior Services, Market and Warren Streets, Trenton, New Jersey.

New Jersey would become the first state to require influenza vaccine

for daycare and pre-school and the first state to require

meningococcal vaccine for sixth graders if the new mandates are

approved by the Council. The additional nine doses of vaccines would

be added to 26 doses of vaccines (diphtheria (4), tetanus (4),

pertussis (4), HIB (3), measles (2), mumps (1), rubella (1), polio

(3), hepatitis B (3), chicken pox (1)) the State already requires for

daycare or school, bringing the total to 35 doses of 13 mandated

vaccines.

The NJ Department of Health has the power under rule making authority

given to the agency by the NJ state legislature to mandate new

vaccines after holding public hearings and taking public comments. A

public hearing was held on these proposed new vaccine mandates on Jan.

26, 2007 and the public comment period ended on Feb. 16. 2007. A 125

page summary of the public hearing and public comments received by the

health department reveals that the majority of the 103 comments from

the public opposed the new vaccine mandates.

http://nj.gov/health/commis

s/bc/documents/phc_final_adoption_857_4.pdf

Supporters of the mandates included state public health and education

officials, the American Academy of Pediatrics and vaccine

manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, which markets three of the new vaccines

that would be required (TdaP, influenza and meningococcal vaccines),

among others. In a memo from retiring NJ Commissioner of Health, Fred

Jacobs, M.D., J.D. to Herbert Yardley, Chair of the NJ Public Health

Council, Jacobs notes that "Some parents rights groups, vaccine

critics, autism advocacy organizations and alternative medicine

practitioners will likely continue to oppose existing requirements,

these recently adopted new vaccine requirements, and future

immunization requirements as they have since the mid-1980's....There

is increasing resistance from the public on new state vaccine mandates

and a demand for more informed parental choice in vaccinations for

children...."

http://nj.gov/health/com miss/bc/documents/phc_memo_adoption_857_4.pdf

Exemptions to vaccination in New Jersey include a medical exemption

that must be written by a medical doctor or a religious exemption,

which requires citizens to write a letter explaining how vaccination

"conflicts with the pupil's exercise of bona fide religious tenets or

practices." The law makes it clear that a "general philosophical or

moral objection" to receiving one or more vaccines "shall not be

sufficient for an exemption on religious grounds." The law further

states that "religious affiliated schools or child care centers shall

have the authority to withhold or grant a religious exemption" for

students attending their schools "without challenge by any secular

health authority." http://www.nvic.org/state- site/NewJersey.htm

The citizens of New Jersey have not had an opportunity to vote,

through their elected representatives, on whether they want their

children to be required to be injected with nine more doses of

vaccines or be denied an education. The power to add or remove vaccine

mandates currently resides entirely in the hands of employees of the

NJ Health Department and members of the NJ Public Health Council.

NJ Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs can be contacted at

http://www.state.nj.us/health/commiss/contact.shtml

NJ Public Health Council Chair, Herbert Yardley, who is also the

Health Officer for Sussex County, can be contacted at

hyardley@sussex.nj.us

The Governor of New Jersey, Joe Corzine, can be reached at

http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html

If you want to change the way new vaccines are mandated in your state

and/or support the addition of conscientious belief exemption to state

vaccine laws, you must work with the state legislators you have

elected to represent you. If you are a resident of New Jersey and want

to let your state legislators know how you feel about nine more doses

of vaccines being added to vaccine mandates, go to

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch. asp

The National Vaccine Information Center has been working in New Jersey

and many states as well as nationally since 1982 to educate citizens

and their elected representatives about the need to institute vaccine

safety and informed consent protections in the U.S. mass vaccination

system. Some states have formed local groups, such as the New Jersey

Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination (www.NJAICV.org) headed by

co-founder Sue Collins.

The National Vaccine Information Center stands with other parent

organizations such as ACHAMP, Generation Rescue, TACA, NAA, Holistic

Moms Network and others in opposing new vaccine mandates for children

in New Jersey and supports the addition of conscientious belief

exemption to vaccination in New Jersey and all states. If you are

interested in working to educate citizens in your community and state

about vaccination and the need for informed consent protections in

your state laws, contact NVIC at NVICinfo@gmail.com

To report a vaccine reaction, go to www.NVIC.org

and to post a vaccine reaction report on NVIC's International Memorial

for Vaccine Victims, go www.vaccinememorial.org