Lawmakers Debate Whether Wisconsin GOP Proposal Is ‘Anti-Vax’
Proposal would require schools, child care facilities to provide information to parents on how to opt out of vaccination.
Child after getting vaccine. Photo by CDC from Pexels
Republican authors of a bill directing schools and child care facilities to create a process telling parents how to opt their kids out of vaccine requirements said at a public hearing Wednesday the measure isn’t “anti-vax.”
But Democratic lawmakers were skeptical, with state Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, alleging the bill is redundant and “one more opportunity to shake that confidence in vaccines.”
The legislation authored by state Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls and co-sponsored Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, would mandate that schools, day care centers and nursery schools create new processes aimed at making it easier for parents to learn about how to opt their children out of state vaccine requirements before they’re enrolled.
Those entities are already required by law to notify parents of their right to waive vaccination requirements for religious and medical reasons or personal conviction. But during a public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care, Brill and Cabral-Guevara claimed the process is confusing and some schools aren’t telling parents about their rights.
“If a right is trampled by confusion, then that right effectively does not exist at all,” Brill said.
Both Republicans prefaced their comments by stating their bill isn’t about advocating against vaccines.
“There are people here in the state of Wisconsin that choose not to get immunized,” Cabral-Guevara said. “It shouldn’t be some big secret. It shouldn’t be some jumping through hoops to be able to either obtain this waiver or to get this immunization record form and then understand how to fill it out.”
Subeck referenced a copy of the state immunization form handed out during the hearing and noted it includes information about waiver options and questioned the necessity of the bill. She also said with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “bucking the science” and questioning the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, the bill appears to be doing the same.
“We should not be pushing harder to shake the confidence that the public has in tried-and-true, longtime, public health policy,” said Subeck.
Only three members of the public testified on the bill, which was discussed at the end of an eight-hour hearing.
Eye doctor Nina Christiansen testified in favor and alleged there was “widespread coercion” by health care providers and others to get people vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic. She claimed Kennedy is bringing new information to light about vaccines.
“Parents deserve truth,” Christiansen said. “Children deserve protection, and schools must be held to the standards our families expect and deserve.”
Conservative activist Alexandra Schweitzer, who heads groups called Parents on Patrol and No Left Turn in Education – Wisconsin, also condemned vaccination efforts during the pandemic, claiming peer pressure that came with those efforts traumatized kids. She claimed her son’s school district required him to get a vaccine despite her submitting vaccine waiver forms.
“The tone was coercive, not informative,” Schweitzer said. “Through the school, the state effectively warned that noncompliance could cost my son his right to an education.”
Schweitzer also accused her local school board of having a policy that allows for invasive physical examinations and questioned whether that could allow school employees to force male students to be circumcised or force pregnant female students to undergo abortions without alerting parents.
Subeck called attention to the public testimony, saying it made clear the bill’s intentions.
“If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that this bill was about vaccines and being an anti-vax bill, I think the testimony is making that crystal clear,” Subeck said. Numerous public health associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly suggest parents get their kids vaccinated in order to help establish herd immunity, which helps shield communities from disease outbreaks.
In August, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services noted just under 87 percent of Wisconsin children were up to date on required vaccines during the last school year, which is slightly down from the prior year. The agency said 5.7 percent of all Wisconsin students whose parents opted them out of vaccine requirements cited personal conviction as a reason.
At the time the bill augmenting vaccine waiver information for parents was being circulated for cosponsors, state health officials were working to identify people amid an outbreak of measles in Oconto County.
GOP bill requiring more notice for vaccine waivers gets public hearing was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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The tin hat brigade is back! These same clowns who want to police bathrooms and our bedrooms have no problem injecting themselves and their anti-science nonsense into our kids’ health. Listen to the dang pediatricians, not “eye doctors”. BTW, how much was she paid for her drivel?