Managing editor's note: Good morning. If you live in Vermont, your healthcare rights are under attack. Even if you currently are in favor of the full vaccination schedule for children and the growing booster shot recommendations for adults and teens, two bills threaten your right to refuse a vaccine in the future. As more vaccines go into production for non-life threatening disease or conditions, you may well find a time where you simply do not want a new vaccine.  From Autism Action Network:

Vermont get on the phones because if you don’t you are about to lose your right to a philosophical exemption from vaccine mandates. That means politicians will be making your medical decisions for you and your family, not you.

Two bills have been introduced into the Vermont state legislature which if passed would eliminate your right to a philosophical exemption from state vaccine mandates. Last week the Senate version of the bill, S. 199, introduced Kevin Mullin of Rutland passed. And the House may be voting this week on H. 527, introduced by Representative George Till, MD.

Please click on the link below to send an email to your Vermont Representative and Senator expressing your opposition to H. 527 and S. 199.

http://capwiz.com/a-champ/issues/alert/?alertid=61001941&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

And Vermont residents, and only Vermont residents, please call your Representative. If you don’t know who your Representative is please click on the link below and you should be able to determine who that person is and get their phone number.

http://www.leg.state.vt.us/lms/legdir/districts.asp?Body=H&Session=2012

All Vermonters please call the H. 527 sponsor, Representative George Till, at (802) 899-2984 and politely express your opposition to the bill.

Vermont has allowed parental and individual choice ever since the first vaccine mandates were passed 30 years ago. What possible reasons do the bill’s proponents have to justify such a gross infringement on personal rights?

Proponents of the bill are claiming that vaccination rates in Vermont are declining, with special emphasis placed on reported outbreaks of measles and whooping cough (pertussis). Yet according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the vaccination rate for measles and pertussis among Vermont children 35-months old has never been higher, and have gone up every year since 2008.

In 2008 the vaccination rate among 35-month old children in Vermont for the measles vaccine was 88.1%,

In 2009 the rate had gone up to 91.9%

In 2010 the rate was 92.7%.

Similarly, the vaccination rate for 4 doses of the pertussis vaccine among 35-month old children in Vermont was 79.9% in 2008,

In 2009 the rate was 83.2%,

In 2010 the rate was 86.08%.

The claims that vaccination rates for the vaccines of concern are simply false.

See: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/stats-surv/nis/data/tables_2008.htm#overall

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/stats-surv/nis/data/tables_2009.htm#overall

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/stats-surv/nis/data/tables_2010.htm#overall

Please ask you representative who they should be making decisions about which vaccines people receive: politicians or individuals in consultation with their healthcare provider.