NYC Mandates Flu Shots For Children

NYC Mandates Flu Shots For Children

Well it looks like Bloomberg is at it again. In one of his final pushes before his exit, Bloomberg’s Board of Health has forced a mandate on NYC’s children that will require them to get the flu vaccination or risk expulsion. This is the same controversial Board of Health that brought NYC the infamous soda ban and also the smoking ban. The law was passed on Wednesday requiring that children under the age of 5, who are attending daycare or preschool, be required to get the flu vaccination before a December 31st deadline. Since this just became law, this will not officially take effect until 2014. However they are encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated as early as possible. This not only poses a challenge to parents to comply with the new law, it requires the schools to provide records of student vaccinations or face possible fines.

kids shots

So what is the big deal? Many schools already require children to get certain vaccinations before attending school. Many of the required vaccinations include chicken pox, mumps, measles, Hepatitis B, diphtheria and tetanus. These vaccinations are believed to have stopped the spread of certain diseases that can pass on to others rather quickly. But is forcing a flu shot on children even considered to be in the same category as say chicken pox or the measles?

“Young children often pass influenza to other children and family members, who then spread the infection to others in the community. This mandate will help protect the health of young children, while reducing the spread of influenza in New York City,” the Health Department said in a statement.

Critics of the new law claim that this is just another overreach by Bloomberg and gang. However, two other states, New Jersey and Connecticut, currently have mandates on flu shots as well. The Autism Action Network’s executive director John Gilmore planned a protest on 12/10 claiming that the Bloomberg administration is “wildly underestimating the risks involved with it,” citing possible allergic reactions and toxic mercury used as a preservative. This is a concern to Autism activists who make the claim that there is a potential correlation between vaccinations and Autism in our nation’s children.

The new law will allow certain exemptions for religion and allergies. Those exemptions will more than likely require the parent or guardian to provide proof of the exemption and have it signed off by a religious leader or doctor. That part would most likely have to be approved. It does not however allow an exemption to that parent or guardian for the purpose of just opposing it. The exemption decisions will be held on a case by case basis by an administrator. Regardless, brace yourselves NYC, Bloomberg may be on his way out, but I hear his replacement is just as eager to take over the same style agenda that Bloomberg will leave behind.

 

 

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8 Comments
  • GWB says:

    There’s a great deal of sturm und drang over vaccinations. As someone who had a lot of them in my 30 years of association with the military, I’ve gone back and forth on the issue. After all, I was among those who usually felt unwell after receiving my mandatory flu shot. On the other hand, I went a lot of nasty places and might have been prevented from picking up a thing or two in those years.

    There’s two real issues with mandatory vaccinations: how are they made and prepared, and the whole idea of forcing people to get them.

    I doubt the issues with vaccine prep are as bad as the vaccinations-equal-autism groups make out. But I also don’t believe those who pooh-pooh the issue. There is a certain amount of the-camera-will-steal-my-soul sorcery involved with the anti-vaccination crowd, but it’s understandable. This is not just a chemical being pumped into your body, but a virus/bacteria that was grown somewhere, then killed or weakened, and has to be preserved in that state so it can be placed into your body. That’s a bit unnerving – after all, one of the things we’re supposed to do as part of being healthy modern man is prevent that very thing. So, it’s something we really want to feel comfortable is being done safely/correctly.

    The other issue is that of simply not enjoying being told what to do. As adults, many of us (though fewer than ever before) rebel at being told what to do. And, nowadays, that level of bossiness has risen high all around us. To be honest, if vaccinations were the only thing that the nanny-state controllers wished upon us, we probably wouldn’t mind too much. We would probably accept the individuals-benefit-because-society-benefits argument much more readily. It’s actually a core of traditional conservatism. But they aren’t content with that. Instead, they insist on telling us how much salt or fat we should eat, and how big our drinks can be, and they won’t let us make decisions like when our headlights should be on or whether we’re smart enough to know that our seatbelt isn’t buckled. (I’m not arguing about the law saying your headlights should be on in the rain, but in the push to have your lights on all the time because you’re obviously too stupid to know when to turn them on.) When “everywhere a sign… do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign” surrounds us, we rebel. And, we rebel on those things that touch us most intimately first: our bodies, and the bodies of our children. (Second is our souls – voila, the mandates that Hobby Lobby is fighting; at least this has a religious exemption.)

    I am contemplating starting a religion, and setting up a compound somewhere in TX. It will *require* that you learn how to safely and efficiently operate a firearm once you reach the age of accountability. And, it will teach that any time the government does something to restrict your liberties, it – by definition – violates God’s law, until you hear otherwise from me. Oh, and all the Victory Girls will be High Priestesses in the Temple. We’ll have to figure out what to do with your husbands………. 😉

  • Ruthie Thompson says:

    Ha! I love you GWB! Well said, my friend!

  • hockeydad says:

    First Let me say I’d be happy to open a branch of GWB’s church in Florida. Just let me know when you’re up and running.

    As with GWB, my time in the military forced me to take shots and my records show that’s the only time I got sick.

    I feel that a flu shot is a bit different than the other vaccinations required. First off, they are something that one has to taken yearly. The other really big issue is that the mumps etc. vaccinations are known to work and really do prevent those diseases, The flu shot is not even a 50% guarantee that one will not get the flu. In fact shot is designed to prevent certain strands of the flu or lessen the impact of the flu. The shot made each year is based on which stands the CDC feels will have the biggest impact on the US. Many years they are wrong and in fact the flu that goes around wasn’t included in the shots provided. So one would have received a shot that was basically useless.

    So forcing this shot onto people is just another way for them to have some type of control. Next they’ll tell us where to live and when to take showers…oh, don’t mind that new tattoo it’s just there so we have a better idea of who you are #6756556787. It’ll make it easier to match up your medical records under Obamacare.

  • Jodi says:

    Oh. Hell. No!!!!

  • Jen says:

    I’m not an anti vaccine by any stretch of the imagination, but I am always amazed at how the public at large, and even the medical community treat vaccines like they are simple water injections. If a vaccine DOES actually stimulate one’s immune system to produce anitboidies to a virus, bacteria, etc. it certainly has an effect on that immune system. One that is likened to actually contracting the disease.
    The cavalier attitude toward flu shots really drives me crazy. Flu shots are given at grocery stores, flea markets, every CVS and Walgreens, and most malls. I don’t understand why having a drug that influences and effects a person’s immune system doesn’t at least require some kind of medical discussion other than “are you allergic to eggs, or flu shots? sign off.

    Also, who is paying for this mass inoculation in the NYC schools? Oh that’s right, free flu shots are part of Obama Care, wait, no one is signed up for that…

  • Bill Lodato says:

    We started a petition a few days ago to try fight this mandate. We could really use your help getting the word out there and of course if anyone would like to sign. We are not against the flu shot in general just don’t want it to be mandated for all children under 6. Please sign our petition (it only takes about 1 minute) and also if you wouldn’t mind share our petition on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you in advance, Bill Lodato

    Here’s the link to our petition
    http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/new-yorkers-against-the-flu-shot

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