Republicans Again Block Student Vaccine Requirements
Legislative body blocks Department of Health Services rules regarding meningitis and chickenpox.
Teen getting a vaccine (CDC)
Republican lawmakers blocked for a second time updated vaccine requirements for students implemented by the state Department of Health Services on Thursday.
The Joint Committee on the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) voted 6-4 along party lines to suspend three recent updates. The decision removes the requirement that students receive the meningitis vaccine, the requirement that a physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice nurse prescriber must confirm a child’s history of chickenpox in order for the child to receive a vaccine exemption and removes both meningococcal and chickenpox from the list of diseases that DHS could exercise certain powers in the case of a “substantial outbreak.”
“JCRAR, once again, met its oversight duty relating to the improper actions taken by DHS to enact binding administrative code provisions that were arbitrary and capricious, as well as, placing undue hardships on the families of this state,” committee co-chair Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said in a statement.
The suspension follows a nine-hour public hearing on Tuesday that included testimony from vaccine skeptics, who argued the rules were an abuse of the agency’s power and spoke about experiences being “vaccine injured.”
“JCRAR’s suspension action restores the reasonable right of parents to make immunization decisions for their children regarding the meningitis vaccine and the process for exempting children that have had the chickenpox (varicella) disease from the vaccination mandate,” Nass said.
DHS officials and other immunization experts who testified at the hearing said the updates were meant to help protect Wisconsinites by increasing accuracy and protecting against potential outbreaks.
Previous rules said parents could verify a child’s history of chickenpox for exemption requests. DHS updated the rule to require a medical professional to verify cases, officials said, because chickenpox is increasingly rare and people don’t recognize the disease as well as they used to. Officials said the addition of the meningitis vaccine was necessary to protect people against the rare but serious disease.
None of the updates changed Wisconsin’s other broad exemption rules that allow parents to opt students out of vaccinations for health, religious or personal conviction reasons.
Democrats on the committee criticized the suspension of the rules. Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said in a statement to the Examiner that Republicans made a decision contrary to what the majority of Wisconsinites want.
“Republican politicians keep bowing to extremism instead of doing what is right for the health of all Wisconsinites,” Roys said. “The overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites support immunization, because preventing communicable disease is the foundation of public health. Republican legislators who ignore science and health care providers make Wisconsin a less attractive place for people considering where to raise their families.”
Rep. Samba Baldeh (D-Madison) explained his “no” vote in a statement, saying he trusts “the expertise of our medical professionals, the public health professionals at DHS and the CDC, and the scientists who work so incredibly hard to protect our communities from the threat of serious diseases.”
He added that opponents of the rules didn’t give him a “compelling reason” to trust them over scientists, and he “will not give in to arguments that undermine public health for us all.”
Republicans suspend new DHS student vaccine rules was originally published by the Wisconsin Examiner.
My lord….not requiring chicken pox vaccinations rises to the level of …..disgusting behavior that exposes victims of their ignorance to shingles later in life.
I’ve had shingles as have many others my age including a friend who almost lost her eyesight!
And these fools who should be considering the common good, prefer to endanger children and thier future adult selves.
They are beneath contempt.
A gerrymandered Wisconsin has created a public health hazard.
There is a saying, “When Republicans make laws, people die”, Now It will be happening again while the public will have increased medical costs for the future hospitalizations of those who are unvaccinated.
If we had a vaccine to eliminate stupidity Republicans would be forced to oppose it for the purpose of self preservation.
Four true comments and counting…
Thanks to increasing public understanding of
Dr. Fauchenstein’s mRNA [non-]vaccines ‘project’,
de-Publicans have a new weapon against public good –
fear of all, even safe, useful vaccines.
Their hope is that we’ll throw the babies out with the death water,
believing that all mandates are evil power overreaches.
This is just one weapon in their effort to retake control of
the gravy train of revenue that they were thrown off of
during the Covid lockdown.
The powers-that-were relied heavily on political bribes
to get their way. The powers-that-are saw that that
idea bore too much risk and mess from voters,
legislative procedures, agency implementation
ideas, not to mention vetoes.
They instead created a crisis, then “invested” in
private, established authority structures and
increased focused investments in non-elected heads
of government agencies,especially regulatory.
Battered but wiser, the old-guard Right wants to
retake the train.
While the public wises up to the
Covid Cartel and their collaborator’s crimes,
notices the silent complicity of media and
government, de-Publicans are working hard on a
super-weapon.
We the public will benefit,
BUT THEY ARE NOT OUR HEROES OR SAVIORS!
They don’t ever want to again be thrown off the
train, watching it haul tons of public money off
to someone else.
They are methodically, meticulously and fanatically
building a complete and detailed body of evidence
against the New Powers. Emphasis on evidence,
because the Courts, if they haven’t been completely
bought out, may be the last institutional place
where evidence matters.
If they win soon enough in court, or just look like
potential saviors, they could win the next election.
If they do, expect them to pick up the Cartel’s
playbook and use it to end Social Security,
all other safety nets, and then Democracy itself.
Identify and get the good vaccines while they last.
To your point gerrybroderick – tis a pity that stupidity is not fatal.