2021 has been a most extraordinary year, and the filing and passage of state-based vaccine legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be historic as well. Even in spite of the sometimes divisive and hostile political climate, active citizen involvement in the legislative process to protect the human right to exercise informed consent to vaccination was the most successful it has ever been. The nonprofit educational charity National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reports that during the 2021 legislative session, NVIC analyzed, tracked and issued positions on an unprecedented 473 vaccine related bills in 49 states through the NVIC Advocacy Portal. This was the highest number of bills in the history of NVIC’s advocacy program, which was established in 2010, and more than double the bills last year. NVIC provides well-referenced, accurate information to the public about vaccine science, policy and law but does not make vaccine use recommendations. In 2010, NVIC launched the NVIC Advocacy Portal (NVICAP), a free online vaccine choice advocacy network, for the purpose of securing and defending informed consent protections in vaccine policies and laws. Over the last 12 years, the NVIC Advocacy Program has analyzed, tracked and issued positions on close to 2,000 vaccine-related bills. NVICAP staff work alongside and share legislative information with many health freedom groups that support NVIC’s four-decade call for the protection of vaccine informed consent rights in America. The NVIC Advocacy Portal team, including NVIC Advocacy state directors and aligned groups, work with families and enlightened health care professionals to educate legislators and protect vaccine informed consent rights. NVIC issues action alerts and sends them through email, posts them online and shares them through social media and our text alert program. >>>>> Click Here <<<<< At the time this report was written, many states still have active vaccine-related bills filed in regular or special sessions; have bills prefiled for next legislative session or are in recess and will come back to work on bills; or have bills that carry over until next session, so it is especially important for everyone who uses the Portal to check in regularly. Bills referenced in this report are published on the NVIC Advocacy Portal. Registered users can obtain a more detailed bill analysis, including current status, as well as NVIC’s position on the bill and recommended action. Many bills published on the NVICAP also contain language that falls outside of NVIC’s mission, but analysis and positions published on the Portal are only focused sections of these bills that fall within NVIC’s mission. Additionally, states and local regions both gained and lost rights this session from executive and local orders, but these orders were not tracked on the Portal attached to grassroots advocacy action items because they were not voted on, so there was no way for citizens to affect the outcome. Highlights From 2021 to DateThere are significant positive take-away points from the initial outcomes of the 2021 legislative session: • Out of the 30 passed bills that contained COVID-19 related measures, 29 were bills that had positive elements that protected vaccine informed consent rights and only one restricted rights. No state legislatures passed bills with COVID-19 mandates. The only COVID-19 vaccine mandates enacted so far were created by state governors, state or local officials, or by private employers. • So far, 20 states have passed some form of protective language from COVID-19 vaccine mandates or vaccine passports in some capacity. These states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Specific protections are broken out in detail below. • The 2021 legislative session featured 278 bills worthy of NVIC’s support, which is more than any legislative session since the launching of NVIC’s Advocacy Portal in 2010. This is up from only 18 good bills that NVIC supported in 2016. This is the first year in which NVIC has supported more vaccine-related bills than we opposed, and the ratio of bills supported to bills opposed is more than 2-to-1. An impressive 29 positive bills supporting vaccine informed consent rights passed. • Out of the 473 bills filed, NVIC supported 278 bills, opposed 130, and watched 65. Of the 65 bills being watched, there were 52 that included some positive elements. • Out of the 55 vaccine-related bills that passed, NVIC supported 29 and opposed 14. Out of the 12 bills being watched, seven included some positive elements worthy of support. The vaccine-related bills for the 2021 session that passed are broken out and described below by category. 2021 Passed Bill Analysis by CategoryNVIC Advocacy has categorized the 55 bills that passed so far in 2021 in the following categories:
Some bills may be included in multiple categories. The NVIC Advocacy Team provides referenced, accurate vaccine information and talking points for NVICAP users to background legislators. Some of the position statements NVIC posted on the Advocacy Portal in 2021 were listed as bills to “watch.” Sometimes this is done because our analysis indicated that the bill was well-intentioned, but contained some problems needing amending before we could support. Sharing this information resulted in many positive changes to bills. The breakout and analysis of bills that passed in these different categories identifies trends across the states. This serves as a guide to educating your state legislators and community in 2021, and it shows why it is so important to speak up and protect vaccine informed consent rights. Your voice is making a difference! COVID-19 Related Bills (30)Many of the bills filed in 2021 attempted to protect people from being mandated to take a COVID-19 vaccine or being discriminated against for not showing proof of vaccination or post-infection recovery, including bills opposing vaccine passports in some form. In November of 2020, NVIC Advocacy created and shared model language to address the real threat of vaccine mandates and forced vaccination in the states in all areas (society, employment, health care, emergency powers etc.) with NVIC state directors and leaders of groups that work closely with NVIC. NVIC hosted a leader training session and, subsequently, these dedicated freedom and informed consent leaders reached out to their legislators, which assisted in the filing of bills in 49 states with various types of protection from COVID-19 vaccine passports or COVID-19 vaccine mandates. One of these bills, which was derived from NVIC model language — Texas SB 1669 — offered the most comprehensive protections of all state bills filed this legislative session. Although SB 1669 did not pass in Texas, the amazing statements, which were made in public hearings by the bill's author, Texas doctors and citizens opposing proposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates, helped shift the public conversation for the country. Read NVIC’s full report on the May 6, 2021 historic hearing, which includes transcripts of selected testimony. So far, 20 states have passed some form of protective language that prohibit COVID-19 vaccine passports or COVID-19 vaccine mandates in some capacity. These states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Of the 30 COVID-19 related bills that passed, 29 were bills that had positive elements that protected informed consent rights and only one restricted informed consent rights. Importantly, no state legislature passed bills with COVID-19 mandates. Regarding employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Montana passed legislation prohibiting this and Arizona passed legislation prohibiting teachers from being forced to be vaccinated in order to keep their jobs. Prohibiting discrimination or segregation against those declining COVID-19 vaccines or preventing citizens from being required to show documentation of proof of COVID-19 vaccination (or showing a vaccine passport) has been included in bills passed in many states this year. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas all passed various types of bills prohibiting discrimination or a requirement to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in certain circumstances. Students have gained protection from school COVID-19 vaccine mandates in certain circumstances in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana (disclosure of existing right to decline) Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Requirements to obtain parental consent to vaccinate minor children in certain circumstances have been added in North Carolina and Ohio. COVID-19 vaccine mandates have been prohibited outright in certain circumstances in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Utah, and new rights to decline COVID-19 vaccines in certain circumstances were added in Arizona, Kentucky and Montana. Citizens of Iowa and Indiana are protected from having their vaccine status tied to their drivers’ licenses or state identification, and Utah has prohibited specified financial incentives to vaccinate with taxpayer money. The only state to pass a bill limiting rights was Virginia, which penalizes unvaccinated workers in workman’s compensation benefits if they have COVID-19. It is important to note that the COVID-19 mandates that are being implemented today have all been through orders by governors, state health or local officials, or by private employers. None has been enacted through passage of legislation by elected representatives in state legislatures. Some of the state governors have issued executive or emergency orders for COVID-19 mandates. These include:
Some state health agencies have issued rules or orders for COVID-19 vaccine mandates. These include:
Some local governments or departments have issued rules or orders for COVID-19 mandates. These include:
Some private employers who are already mandating COVID-19 vaccines are Facebook, Google, Microsoft, United Airlines, CNN, Ascension Health, Disney, Amtrak, and Goldman Sachs. Mixing government mandates with employer mandates, the San Antonio Independent School District and superintendent Pedro Martinez enacted an employment policy that all district employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19. The state of Texas is suing the school district to stop implementation of the mandatory vaccination policy because it is in violation of the Texas governor’s executive order that prohibits COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state. There are multiple lawsuits challenging these types of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Looming on the horizon are threats of more COVID-19 vaccine mandates from President Joe Biden for federal workers in the executive branch, employers with 100 or more employees and military personnel in the armed forces. Now more than ever, it is critical that people continue to be involved in the legislative process at all levels of city, county, state and federal government, which includes learning where candidates stand on issues important to your family and voting accordingly, and continuing to educate legislators, your governor and local officials in order to protect informed consent and reject discrimination, segregation and forced vaccination. Your voices are making a huge difference as you can see in this report, including all the positive bills that were passed protecting informed consent rights listed below.
Censorship Bills (1)For a significant win passed in a second special session, Texas HB 20 prevents social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users from banning users simply based on their viewpoints. The law also requires social media sites to disclose their content management and moderation policies; implement a complaint and appeals process for content they remove, and provide a reason for the removal and a review of their decision. The law prohibits email service providers from impeding the transmission of email messages based on content. A social media user could bring an action against a social media platform that violated the bill by censoring and banning the user from the platform. A user proving a violation would be entitled to recover declaratory relief, including costs and reasonable attorney's fees, and injunctive relief. The attorney general can also take action. NVIC has been a victim of the type of censorship this new law will prevent in Texas. NVIC’s Facebook page grew from 800 followers in 2008 to 218,000 in 2020. After 39 years of being a highly respected well-known nonprofit charity advocating for vaccine safety and informed consent, NVIC’s 13-year-old Facebook page with over 200,000 followers was permanently deplatformed in March 2021. NVIC’s Instagram account was eliminated in April 2021 and NVIC’s Twitter account was eliminated in May 2021. Some of NVIC Advocacy’s email subscribers have reported that their email provider has censored email subscription verifications and action alerts. Vaccine Exemptions and Mandate Bills (5)Legislators fought hard to stop bills attempting to add more vaccine mandates or restrict or remove vaccine exemptions. Out of 38 bills filed attempting to add more vaccine mandates, restrict or remove vaccine exemptions, only two of the proposed bills passed.
Oregon HB 2359B would have required health care interpreters to be registered and receive all recommended vaccines. Opposition helped get this offensive section removed before passage of the bill. On the other hand, three good bills passed that expanded informed consent protections in specialized circumstances. • Montana HB 334 strengthens the medical exemption to vaccination, prohibits the health department from reviewing exemption for the purpose of approving or denying it, and provides privacy protections. • Tennessee SB 1337 prohibits an individual or members of the individual's household to undergo an immunization as a condition of adopting a child unless the child is under 18 months of age or has significant documented health condition that would necessitate vaccination of the caregiver or members of the caregiver's household. NVIC supports the prohibition of the vaccine requirement on adoption of children but opposes the exceptions to the prohibition. • Utah HB 233 prohibits the Utah Board of Higher Education and institutions within the higher education system from requiring proof of vaccination unless vaccine exemptions are available, and prohibits higher education institutions and local education agencies that offer both remote and in-person learning from requiring a vaccine-exempt student to participate remotely rather than in-person. The law does not apply to students studying in a medical setting at an institution of higher education. It also does not prohibit employees of the institution from having to show proof of vaccination. • Arizona SB 1353 initially was filed to allow an antibody test in lieu of a rabies vaccination booster for animals, and NVIC supported the bill in that form. Unfortunately, that section was removed as the bill moved forward, but we continued to watch it in case the animal vaccination exception was added back. This was one of only five bills that we had in the watch category that passed with no positive provisions. Informed Consent Bills (5)In the 2021 legislative session so far, five bills have passed making improvements to securing the legal right to informed consent to vaccination. This is a significant gain over 2020 where 30 bills were filed attempting to improve informed consent protections with none of those bills passing last year. • Florida HB 241 adds sweeping parental rights protections. Specifically related to vaccines, it adds vaccine exemption disclosure. It requires school boards to develop and adopt a policy to promote parental involvement in the public school system, which includes procedures for a parent to learn about parental rights and responsibilities under general law, including the right of a parent to exempt his or her minor child from immunizations. • Idaho HB 298 requires schools to provide information on vaccine exemptions. It specifically requires school officials to describe vaccine exemptions and provide a citation to the exemption law in any communication to parents and legal guardians regarding immunization. • Idaho SB 1212 requires when the state of Idaho is using funds from the federal law PL 117-2, The American Rescue Act, to promote vaccines, they would also have to include informed consent language similar to that required by the FDA. It stipulates that an equal amount of funds may be expended on the promotion of health education, including but not limited to exercise and fitness, consumption of vitamin D supplementation, and a reduction in non-nutritional foods such as high-fructose corn syrup. • Oklahoma SB 658 (also listed under COVID-19 bills), prohibits school requirements for COVID-19 vaccines or vaccine passports as a condition of admittance to or attendance in schools, and prohibits masks for those not vaccinated against COVID-19. It also requires the State Department of Education to require schools to educate parents about vaccine exemptions each time references are made to immunization requirements. • Tennessee SB 1175 requires any communication provided to students or parents by any school, nursery school, kindergarten, preschool, child care facility or public institution of higher education regarding immunization requirements to include information on the grounds for exemptions to the immunization requirement. Minor Consent Bills (3)In our 2020 NVIC State Legislative Report, issued in September of 2020, we reported that in the troublesome new category of doctors allowing minor children to consent to vaccination on their own without the knowledge of their parents, there were 39 bills filed across 2019 and 2020, but none had yet passed at the time we released our report. In October 2020, the worst minor consent bill of them all, DC B23-0171 started to move, and was ultimately passed and allowed to go into effect by Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser effective December 23, 2020. A lawsuit was filed in federal court by the Parental Rights Foundation in July of 2021 to halt D.C.’s Minor Consent Act of 2020. To read more about this, please link to an article written by NVIC Co-Founder and president, Barbara Loe Fisher, entitled "Doctors Given Power to Vaccinate Young Children Without the Knowledge of Parents.” In the 2021 legislative session to date, the six states of Colorado (1), Minnesota (3), New Jersey (1), New York (4), Pennsylvania (1) and Vermont (1) have bills filed to allow for minor consent. So far, only one has passed. Colorado SB 16 allows minors to be vaccinated with vaccines for sexually transmitted infections without parental knowledge or consent. Parents in Oregon should be aware of a bill that passed this session, which puts their children in danger of being pressured to consent to vaccination without the knowledge or consent of their parents. Oregon HB 2591A expands funding for mobile medical vans to provide vaccines at schools. The problem with this bill is that in Oregon, children 15 years and older can consent to medical treatment, including vaccination, without parental consent. While NVIC does not take a position on school-based health clinics or funding for them, when laws and policies are expanded to exert more pressure on minor children to get vaccinated behind parents’ backs, we speak out. Vaccination vans will be appearing at schools and parents need to be prepared to respond if their children are targeted for coercion into receiving vaccines without the knowledge or consent of parents. On a positive note, Ohio HB 6 requires written parental consent before a minor can be vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines. This bill was also listed above in the COVID-19 vaccine section. Vaccine Tracking Bills (6)NVIC has opposed the forced inclusion of Americans in government operated electronic vaccine and health records tracking systems since the 1990s. Once personal medical information is put into a state database, federal law allows that information to be shared without knowledge or consent for conducting public health surveillance, investigations, research or interventions and public health purposes. See 45 CFR 64.512(b)(2) and see a list of core data elements that can be gathered and put into vaccine tracking registry systems. Forced inclusion, forced reporting and opt-out electronic vaccine tracking registries and enforcement systems continue to threaten the medical privacy of citizens and their legal right to refuse vaccines without being subjected to harassment or punishment. Making all vaccine tracking registries opt-in informed consent and prohibiting public funding for vaccine registries that do not adhere to opt-in informed consent for inclusion should be a priority. Four bills were passed by state legislatures this session that NVIC opposed that expanded vaccine tracking. • Arizona SB 1505 expands access to the personal information collected by the vaccine tracking registry system to include contractors doing external review, as well as certain nonprofit organizations. • Colorado SB 137 requires the statewide perinatal substance use data linkage project to utilize data from the Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS). • Georgia SB 46 allows individually identifiable vaccination information regarding a person, without the consent of the person or the person's parents or legal guardians, to be provided to and released by the department to a local health department, hospital, physician or other providers of medical services to the person; or to a school or child care facility in which the person is enrolled if the person is 18 years of age or younger; or a third party during a declared public health emergency. During a declared public health emergency, physicians can issue standing orders to pharmacists to give vaccines and all vaccines that are given as a result of a declared public health emergency will be recorded in the registry, whether a person wants that or not. It also requires a signed informed consent stating the patient does not have a contraindication to receiving the vaccine. The informed consent form shall list the contraindications to the vaccine. This requirement only applies to live attenuated virus vaccines, not to inactivated or any [other] type of vaccine. • Virginia HB 2061 mandates that all vaccine providers report to the VIIS (Virginia Immunization Information System), which is the state’s vaccine tracking system. Under previous law, reporting to VIIS was voluntary. Inclusion in Virginia’s vaccine tracking registry should be opt-in informed consent only. However, currently it operates as an opt-out system. Parents shouldn't have to opt-out if they don't want their child’s personal medical information in the state electronic vaccine tracking registry. Data from these registries are shared with other entities and this puts families at risk of having personal information shared when they did not know or want to be tracked. Expansion of mandatory reporting of all vaccines given by vaccine providers will increase these occurrences. This is especially concerning with COVID-19 vaccines, where discrimination and segregation is occurring based on vaccination status. Here is a link to Virginia’s state vaccine tracking opt-out form. Vaccine tracking tied to state identification was successfully limited in two states.
Authorizing More Professions to Administer More Vaccines (3)Three states passed bills that NVIC was watching that expanded the professionals who can administer vaccines. Our concern with these bills passing is that often health care workers, such as pharmacists, have less training for identifying and screening out those, who should not be vaccinated, and for recognizing and ultimately reporting vaccine reactions to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
There were other states that passed bills to expand who can give vaccines that we did not track for different reasons, including if there were consent provisions or they did not include young children. Unnecessary Bills (1)Sometimes bills are passed that don’t do anything useful and are a waste of time. • Texas SB 239 requires the Department of State Health Services to develop and implement a disease prevention information system for dissemination of immunization information during a declared state of disaster or local state of disaster. The department should already be disseminating all relevant health information during a disaster as part of their charge to protect the health of the people of Texas. The department’s myopic fixation on vaccine rates over what make people truly healthy has caused trouble during COVID lockdowns and social distancing restrictions. Vaccines don’t need a separate disaster dissemination database. The state health department has a website that can be updated. Governors in Three States Veto Passed Vaccine Bills (5)Three governors were responsible for knocking down five passed bills with their veto powers. John Bel Edwards, governor of Louisiana, vetoed the following bills:
Tom Wolf, governor of Pennsylvania, vetoed Pennsylvania SB 618 which prohibits government entities and state funded colleges from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Read his veto statement. Tony Evers, governor of Wisconsin, vetoed Wisconsin AB 23 which prohibits the Department of Health and local health officials from mandating COVID-19 vaccines. Read his signed veto letter. Comparing Recent Sessions to 2021473 bills represent the most proposed vaccine-related bills NVIC has recorded in the history of the NVIC Advocacy Portal, surpassing the previous all-time high of 232 bills introduced in 2020 and 221 in 2019. It is important to note that four states (Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas) meet biennially to consider new bills and do not hold a legislative session in even numbered years. The biennial sessions that include these states contribute to the sharp rise in bills in odd years. 2020 was the first even year where there was still an increase in vaccine-related bills proposed, even though these four states were not participating in that session. In 2021, 49 states proposed vaccine-related bills falling under NVIC’s mission. This is the highest number of states involved in one session in the history of the NVIC Advocacy program, with the only state not having a bill this year being Nevada. The highest number of states before was 40 plus Washington, D.C. in 2019 and 39 plus DC in 2020. There was a similar number of bills that NVIC opposed in 2021 — 130 — compared to the last two years, 137 and 123 respectively. There were far more bills filed that NVIC supported in 2021 than in any other session. NVIC supported 278 bills this session, which is more than two times the 99 bills we supported in 2020, and more than three times the 77 we supported bills in 2019. We are happy to report that the gap between supported and opposed bills has officially been closed in 2021! Enlightened legislators are not only listening to concerned constituents in greater numbers, but many more are continuing or beginning to resist aggressive lobbying efforts by the vaccine industry, medical trade and other groups, whose positions and profits benefit from laws that force children and adults to use every vaccine sold by pharmaceutical companies and recommended by public health officials. Only 14 bad vaccine bills passed out of the 130 proposed bills that NVIC opposed in the 2021 legislative session, which is only three more bills than the average of 11 bills over the last seven years. Individual citizen involvement in the legislative process, through personal communications and education of legislators, continues to make a tremendous impact on the outcomes of vaccine related bills in state legislatures. As the federal government is attempting to insert itself in state vaccine policy decisions for COVID-19, NVIC predicts this will drive even more Americans in every state to get more involved in the legislative process at every level in the years to come to protect their informed consent rights. What Can You Do?NVIC expects that the federal government, the vaccine industry and their medical trade association partners will continue to step up efforts to force COVID-19 vaccination and restrict or remove vaccine exemptions in 2022 since all COVID-19 vaccine mandate bills failed in the states and many protective bills were passed in 2021. We have to hold the line in the states and we need you. Please become a registered user of the free online NVIC Advocacy Portal and check in often to learn about ways to personally educate your legislators when vaccine bills that affect your rights are moving in your state. Please encourage your family and all of your friends to do the same. Also, register for our text alerts by texting the full name of your state to (202) 618-5488. Clearly your efforts are making a much more significant difference than the mainstream media and those pushing “no exceptions” forced vaccination policies and laws are willing to admit, and your active participation is vital to protecting informed consent rights and vaccine choices in America. If you see inaccurate information in the media, please take the time to respond by making a constructive comment online. You can also email the journalist or call the media outlet and provide accurate, well-referenced Diseases and Vaccines information and accurate state vaccine law information, which you can find on our website NVIC.org. NVIC’s illustrated and fully referenced Guide to Reforming Vaccine Policy and Law is another good vaccine education tool for legislators and friends and family, too. We have many excellent referenced articles you can use published on current issues, including those on COVID-19 in our free weekly journal newspaper The Vaccine Reaction. The same holds true if you are censored online for providing accurate information about vaccination, infectious diseases and health. Contest it and educate those doing the censoring. The information seeds you plant today can make a difference tomorrow and into the future. Yes, the challenges are great, but so are the opportunities to educate and empower legislators and residents of every state to defend vaccine freedom of choice. NVIC is committed to continuing to make that happen, and we look forward to working with you through the NVIC Advocacy Portal to help you protect vaccine informed consent rights in your state in the remaining days of 2021, and 2022 and beyond. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/30/nvic-2021-annual-report-us-state-vaccine-legislation.aspx
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