Protect Parental Rights - Oppose Additional Forced Vaccines By Writing Letters NOW!
- 1999
Sample Letters
TDH Letter
Sample Board of Health Letter
Sample Texas Legislative Letters
TDH's Proposed Mandates Appearing in Texas Register
If the Texas Department of Health (TDH) gets its way, three more vaccines will be
legally forced into children at a time dictated by bureaucrats. Parents will have no longer have the
right to determine WHEN these vaccines are given to their child, or IF they are given at all.
These vaccines are currently available to any child in Texas whose parent wants them
administered; the issue here is that TDH's proposal will make it illegal if a parent wants to either
delay the vaccine or not give it at all. These proposals blatantly disregard parental rights and the
basic human right of informed consent to medical procedures.
- FORCED CHICKEN POX (VARICELLA) VACCINES (1 Dose) - For all children entering
kindergarten, all younger children attending child-care, all 12 year-olds, and all higher
education students who are pursuing health professions degrees who haven't had the chicken pox.
- FORCED HEPATITIS B VACCINES (3 Doses) - For all 12 year olds.
- FORCED HEPATITIS A VACCINES (2 Doses) - For all children 2 years old
and older who were born on or after September 2, 1993 and live in any of 32 counties bordering
Mexico.
Letters of opposition must be received no later than Tuesday, March 30, 1999 in order to be
counted in the official public comment period and considered by the Texas Board of Health. Send a
letter to the Immunization Division Director, the Texas Board of Health, your state Representative
and your state Senator. Attach any copies of articles that are pertinent to these issues, especially
to your legislators. Letters may be sent by fax, mail, or email.
The legislative letters are very important because they will help educate your legislators and
open up the idea for a conscientious choice exemption in the state of Texas for which we have a bill
filed in the House of Representatives. These letters will boost awareness with legislators. We will
be asking for you to write more letters to support that very soon, so if you are not on our
confidential email list, you can subscribe to PROVE by sending a note to PROVE with
the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
We need your action today. Please send your letters. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dawn Richardson, President
Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education
Sample Letters
1) TDH Letter
[NAME AND ADDRESS]
[DATE]
Robert D. Crider, Jr., M.S., M.P.A.,
Director, Immunization Division
Texas Department of Health
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, TX 78756
Tel: (512) 458-7284
Fax:(512) 458-7288
Email: [email protected]
Dear Mr. Crider,
I am submitting this letter in response to TDH's request for public comments. I oppose the
proposed mandates for the varicella, hepatitis B, and hepatitis A vaccines. I request that this
letter is made a part of the public record and that TDH respond in writing to my comments.
These vaccines are currently available to any child in Texas whose parent wants them
administered; the issue here is that TDH's proposal will make it illegal if a parent wants to
either delay one of these vaccines or not give it at all. These proposals blatantly disregard
parental rights and the basic human right of informed consent to medical procedures.
[OPTIONAL BODY OF SPECIFIC CONCERNS - SEE BELOW]
I urge TDH to withdraw these rules. There are many valid reasons why a parent may not want to
use one or all of these 3 vaccines. Parents are capable of making informed decisions about the
health care of their children and must not be placed in a position in which exercising a
conscientious objection to the administration of any of these vaccines means breaking the law. Leave
this decision where it should be, in the hands of the parents. It will be the parents and children
who live with the consequences of a health problem precipitated by a vaccine, not TDH.
[SIGNATURE]
2) Sample Board of Health Letter
[NAME AND ADDRESS]
[DATE]
Texas Board of Health
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, TX 78756
Fax (512) 458-7202
Email: [email protected]
Dear Texas Board of Health,
I am writing to you as parent concerned with TDH's proposed rules implementing the mandates for
the varicella, hepatitis B, and hepatitis A vaccines.
These vaccines are currently available to any child in Texas whose parent wants them
administered; the issue here is that TDH's proposal will make it illegal if a parent wants to
either delay one of these vaccines or not give it at all. These proposals blatantly disregard
parental rights and the basic human right of informed consent to medical procedures.
[OPTIONAL BODY OF SPECIFIC CONCERNS - SEE BELOW]
I respectfully urge the Board of Health to reject these rules that force these vaccines on
children. There are many valid reasons why a parent may not want to use one or all of these 3
vaccines. Parents are capable of making informed decisions about the health care of their
children and must not be placed in a position in which exercising a conscientious objection to the
administration of any of these vaccines means breaking the law. Leave this decision where it
should be, in the hands of the parents. It will be the parents and children who live with the
consequences of a health problem precipitated by a vaccine, not TDH.
[SIGNATURE]
3) and 4) Sample Texas Legislative Letters
If you don't know who your state legislators are, you can call your county voter registration
office or link to http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm.
[NAME AND ADDRESS]
[DATE]
The Honorable [STATE REPRESENTATIVE'S NAME]
Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
Fax (512) 463-5896
Email: [[email protected]]
OR
The Honorable [STATE SENATOR'S NAME]
Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711-2068
Fax (512) 463-0326
Email [[email protected]]
Dear Representative [NAME] or Senator [NAME],
I am writing to you as parent who is living in your district that is opposed to the Texas
Department of Health's proposed rules implementing mandates for the Varicella, Hepatitis B, and
Hepatitis A vaccines. These rules were published in the January 29, 1999 issue of the Texas
Register.
These vaccines are currently available to any child in Texas whose parent wants them
administered; the issue here is that TDH's proposal will make it illegal if a parent wants to
either delay one of these vaccines or not give it at all. These proposals blatantly disregard
parental rights and the basic human right of informed consent to medical procedures.
[OPTIONAL BODY OF SPECIFIC CONCERNS - SEE BELOW]
There are many valid reasons why a parent may not want to use one or all of these 3 vaccines. Parents
are capable of making informed decisions about the health care of their children and must not be
placed in a position in which exercising a conscientious objection to the administration of any of
these vaccines means breaking the law. Leave this decision where it should be, in the hands of
the parents. It will be the parents and children who live with the consequences of a health
problem precipitated by a vaccine, not TDH.
Comments received by March 30, 1999 will become part of public record and will be considered by
the Texas Board of Health when deciding whether to accept or reject these rules. Letters may be
sent by mail, fax or email:
- Robert D. Crider, Jr., M.S., M.P.A., Director, Immunization Division, Texas
Department of Health, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, TX 78756, Fax:(512) 458-7288, Email: [email protected]
- Walter D. Wilkerson, Jr., M.D, Chair, Texas Board of Health, 1100 West 49th Street,
Austin, TX 78756, Fax (512) 458-7202, Email: [email protected]
Thank you for your consideration.
[SIGNATURE]
Suggestions For Letter Body
Here are some points that you may choose to include in the body section of your letters. Don't
feel you need to include all of this; these are just some ideas. Try to put things in your own
words.
For most children, chicken pox is a benign childhood illness that frequently gives the child
lifelong immunity. Hepatitis A infection is often asymptomatic or mild in young children and
lifelong immunity is usually achieved. According to the vaccine manufacturers, neither of these
vaccines have been "evaluated or tested for their carcinogenic potential, mutagenic
potential, or for impairment of fertility" or "reproductive capacity" and "the
duration of protection is unknown at present". Forcing a vaccine on a healthy young child for
whom the illness will most likely be no more than an inconvenience, only to have the vaccine wear
off when the child is an adult, is a bad idea. Chickenpox is not smallpox. Many doctors don't
agree with mandating the chicken pox or hepatitis A vaccine. The risks associated with these
diseases are significantly more dangerous for adults. Let parents decide what they want for they
for their child. If an adult never got the disease as a child, they can choose to take the
vaccine.
TDH's reason for mandating the chickenpox vaccine is that "parents and guardians
experience less work disruption due to their child's varicella illness." It is not the
function of a health agency to determine how much work parents are allowed to miss to care for
their children. The spread of Hepatitis A is a sanitation problem. Providing a clean water supply
would go a lot further to protect all the residents of the border counties than forcing only kids
to be vaccinated. The varicella and hepatitis A vaccines are manufactured using human fetal cells
and contain formaldehyde and aluminum. The hepatitis B vaccine contains thimerosol, a mercury
derivative preservative banned by the FDA in over-the-counter drug preparations because of
questions over safety.
Hepatitis B, for teenagers, is primarily spread through irresponsible behavior. This proposed
mandate lowers all pre-teens down to the lowest common denominator of the irresponsible behaviors
of IV drug use and unprotected sex. In 1996, there were only 279 cases of hepatitis B reported in
children under 14 in the entire United States. That same year, there were 872 reports of serious
injuries and 48 deaths occurring in children under 14 who received the hepatitis B vaccine with
other vaccines, and 13 deaths and 214 reports of serious reactions in children under 14 receiving
the hepatitis B vaccine alone. This vaccine is hurting too many children and it should not be
forced on anyone who does not want it.
Immunization is a medical procedure that can cause reactions and death for some. The Vaccine
Injury Compensation Program has paid out nearly 1 billion dollars in damages to families for
injuries and deaths caused by vaccines. However, the vaccines included in TDH's proposed mandates
are not fully covered by this federal program. What will happen to the families of children who
are either injured or killed as a result of these new vaccine mandates in Texas? Will the state
cover their expenses? Proposing rules that mandate vaccines that are not fully covered for injury
compensation clearly illustrates that the TDH has little regard for the individual child. Children
in Texas are already required to receive 33 doses of vaccines for 9 different illnesses with no
flexibility for parental choice. Dozens of new vaccines for children are in various stages of
development, including one for AIDS. It is time for TDH to respect that children belong to their
parents and not the state.
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