October 23, 2013, 10AM to 12PM

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Gotham Center

42-09 28th Street, 14th Floor, Room 14-45

Long Island City, NY 11101-4132

You may pre-register to speak at the hearing by contacting Roslyn Windholz at the address or phone number below before October 23, 2013

Roslyn Windholz


Secretary to the Board of Health

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Gotham Center, 14th Floor, CN 31
Long Island City, NY 11101-4132

(347) 396-6078/6116

Written comments can be mailed to Roslyn Windholz at the address above.

They may also be submitted by e-mail to [email protected]

Here are just some of the reasons why this proposal should be rejected:

Healthcare decisions for children should be made by parents without interference from an appointed board.

Nothing in New York State Law allows local governments to require mandatory vaccines. New York has more than 2100 local governments. Do we want to open the door for 2100 different mandatory vaccine regimes?

Mayor Bloomberg is violating state law by refusing to allow medical exemptions from vaccine mandates. As has been documented in the press, New York City has begun arbitrarily refusing to accept medical exemptions.

Mayor Bloomberg has implemented an illegal quota on religious exemptions limiting religious exemptions to 1.4% of all students at any school, which is a gross violation of the First Amendment rights of New Yorkers and a violation of the New York State Public Health Code, Section 2164.

Flu shots are ineffective. There are 900 strains of flu and the flu shot contains antigens to only 3. And the effectiveness of the shot against the selected antigen is often negligible.

Mayor Bloomberg has presented no evidence that the mandatory shots would benefit in anyway the children receiving them.

Half of all flu shots still contain quantities of mercury wildly in excess of maximum daily exposure limits set by the FDA.  A 40 lb. four-year old injected with a mercury–containing flu shot would be exposed to more than 1400% mercury than is considered acceptable for an adult.

According to CDC Wonder there were no confirmed deaths from influenza in New York in children younger than 5 in 2010, the last year that data is available.

Pneumococcal shots are also ineffective. The pneumococcal shot has not been proven to reduce pneumococcal disease due to changes in the pneumococcal strains in circulation,  which is why the 23-valent pneumococcal shot was rushed into production.

According to a 2007 study the 7-valent pneumococcal shot was not a cost-effective intervention, and that study presumed otitis media would be reduced, which has proven not to be the case. Without a reduction in otitis media 66% of the presumed benefit of pneumococcal shots was eliminated.