We the undersigned, are calling on you to work for the repeal of the newly enacted ban on religious exemptions to vaccines. The US Constitution, our civil rights, the Nuremberg Code, parental prerogative, science and statistics have all been ignored in the process leading up to the passage of New York Assembly Bill 2371a. Our outrage about the passage of this bill is founded upon the reasons that we discuss here.

Our founding Fathers placed great importance on religious freedom by emphasizing it in the very first amendment in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press: or the right of people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

How we as individuals feel about another person’s religion is irrelevant. We do not even need to understand another person’s religion. Beliefs are non-negotiable. Our country was based on the concept that there are many ways to walk with God and all ways should be honored and respected.

The 14th amendment in the Bill of Rights protects all of us, vaccinated or not. It says we all should receive the same “privileges” (such as education) just by being citizens. It says:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States: nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law: nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Bill A2371a is in direct opposition to the Nuremberg Code. The Nuremberg Code came out of the Nuremberg Trials after World War II and is an international agreement on the treatment of human beings and their inherent rights. There are ten points to this Code. The very first point is:

“The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved, as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that, before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject, there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person, which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment. The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity.”

Forcing people to vaccinate their children goes against this Code. Children cannot give consent as they are not legally or mentally able to make these decisions and should not be placed in the position of having to do so (as with the proposed bills on HPV and other vaccines). A child who is deemed not old enough to drive, drink alcohol, get married or vote is surely not old enough to make important medical decisions that may have life-long effects.

Referring to this year’s outbreak of measles as an “epidemic” is misleading and inflammatory language when compared to other causes of death. There has been one death due to complications of measles (pneumonia) in the last twenty years. While of course, any death is regrettable, this one death hardly represents an epidemic. Real epidemics in our country include:*

70,237 deaths from drug overdose

47,123 deaths from suicide

35,000 deaths from car accident

15,000 deaths from gunshot (plus 28,000 injuries from gunshot)These numbers do not include those who have died from suicide

42,743 cases of tick borne illnesses (a conservative number as many more went undiagnosed and unreported)

*these numbers are from the CDC and are for 2017 only.



According to the CDC, early childhood illnesses were declining even before the first use of vaccines. When people get an illness like measles, they then have life-long immunity; whereas with the vaccine they need continual boosters. The fact that the pharmaceutical companies require multiple boosters and that many people who have received vaccines still get “early childhood illnesses” proves that the effectiveness of vaccines should be questioned. The negative effects of vaccines have been intentionally hidden as proven by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) created by the US government to protect vaccine producing companies from lawsuits. The NVICP has paid out over $4 billion in claims in thousands of cases. This allows big pharmaceutical companies to continue making vast amounts of money with no accountability.

Common ingredients in vaccines include:* live virus propagated in chick embryos, guinea pig cell cultures, bovine (cow) and porcine (pig) cells, human diploid lung fibroblasts (cultured from aborted human fetuses), human albumin, fetal bovine serum, hydrochloric acid, MSG, MRC-5 cells including DNA and protein, EDTA, phenoxyethanol (a preservative that the FDA has warned is harmful to babies), glutaraldehyde (a disinfectant), up to 500mcg of aluminum, formaldehyde, polysorbate 20 and 80, soy, and vero cells from the African Green Monkey kidneys. You can see from this short list that vaccinations represent serious and often dangerous issues for people who need to remain Kosher and for whom beef or pork is forbidden, people who have convictions against abortion due to religious beliefs, people who find the use of human fetuses and human DNA inhumane or medically questionable, people who have egg/soy/gluten allergies, or people who are vegetarian.

*The ingredients listed herein are easily found on product inserts from vaccine manufacturers such as Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline.

Furthermore, the vaccine “catch up” schedule is dangerous and untested. Time is required between each vaccine dose for antibodies to develop. There have been no studies on multiple vaccines in a short period of time. We do not know how this will affect our growing children. By forcing these vaccinations, you are condoning experimenting on our children without our consent and without care or knowledge of the potential consequences. Being able to look at individual risk factors such as autoimmune illnesses, immunocompromised situations, family history of reactions to vaccines, allergies and other developmental concerns before administering a vaccine, would be the medically responsible thing to do. However, we have not been able to find any information about acceptable NY State medical exemptions. When a doctor was asked, we were told an adverse reaction must happen after receiving a vaccine before a medical exemption can be granted. This means that we must risk irreversible damage and only have an exemption from further vaccines after the damage has been done to our children. We find this wanton disregard for the safety and wellbeing of our children unacceptable.

There are other questions that must be addressed related to the new law. For example: What about providing an equal education to the children who have special needs and Individulal Education Plans (IEPs)? What steps are being taken to support them when they are now denied services at any public or private school?

We reject the label that we are “anti-vaccine”. We are pro-informed choice. There should always be choice and informed consent in any medical procedure. According to the Johns Hopkins Medical School website, medical error is the third leading cause of death in the USA. We cannot leave these decisions to others. Each individual must be able to understand the possible benefits and possible risks of any medicine, vaccine or procedure and take responsibility for consent or dissent. We must all be able to say “Yes” or “No”. To deny bodily autonomy and parental prerogative goes against the principles on which this country is founded. This position is the equivalent to My Body = My Choice.

We need to be able to make careful choices based on our families religious and health needs. Each family should be able to make the choice that is best for their children. The government does not know our children. We do. We are relying on our elected officials to stand up for and protect our religious and civil rights. Again we ask you to please do all you can to repeal Bill A2371a.



For further information please check these websites:

www.cdc.gov

www.nvic.org

www.merck.com

www.aapsonline.org

www.hopkinsmedicine.org

We also encourage you to research vaccine injury. A good start would be to research VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) at www.vaers.hhs.gov to read reports in the Children’s Health Defense News and Views.