Oppose Texas Vaccine Registry Bill

[Guest guest]

If you live in Texas or know people in Texas, call the State Senators.

gratitute for their committment to oppose SB 1237 and protect medicalprivacy and parental rights would be great.Here is the last alert so you can refer to it to keep the calls coming in.Thanks! Dawn---------- [PLEASE FORWARD TO HELP KILL INTRUSIVE VACCINE TRACKING SYSTEM BILL - 1CALL NEEDED RIGHT AWAY TO YOUR STATE SENATOR]Dear TEXAS Parents and PROVE Texas Members,URGENT - AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS, everyone please pick up the phone and make1 call to your state senator opposing CS SB 1237 by Senator Moncrief! This bill guts parental and medical privacy rights by attempting to make thevaccine tracking system an intrusive OPT-OUT instead of the current OPT-IN.Despite compelling parental testimony (can be viewed online athttp://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/AVarch.htm and click on Health andHuman Services Committee Public Hearing Part II - May 3, 2001), the bill waspassed out of committee 5 to 1 late last Thursday on 5/3. It was placed onthe intent calendar on Tuesday-5/8 for Wednesday-5/9, which means it couldbe voted on by the senate any time from now on. We don't know when it willcome up for a vote so call as soon as you get this note!In the senate, they need a 2/3 vote to pass a bill. Out of 31 senators, weonly need 11 NO votes to kill a bill. This is totally achievable, but yoursenator's office needs to hear from you in force! Send this to your friendsand family and call neighbors and ask them to call too! The talking points are below. If we don't stop this bill, your child'simmunization records and personally identifiable details will be dumped byyour doctor and insurance company directly to the state health departmentwithout your knowledge or consent! Please call your senator now!Below the talking points is a little background history so you canunderstand the big picture and why this bill needs to be stopped.So again, as soon as you get this note, link tohttp://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm to look up the name and phonenumber of your state senator. PICK UP THE PHONE and CALL your state senator's office and introduceyourself, say where you are calling from, IDENTIFY YOURSELF AS ACONSTITUENT, ask who you are speaking to, and politely explain in your ownwords that you are calling specifically to ask your senator to Oppose CSSB1237 because it is a violation of your parental and medical privacy rights.You may want to use some of the talking points below and add any of your ownconcerns. If you testified at or came to the hearing last week, let themknow how you felt about the way you were treated and the way the hearing wasrun. At the end of the conversation, ask if they know how the senator isgoing to vote on this. (Please send me a note if you get anythinginteresting here or definitive.)Talking Points in Opposition to CSSB 1237 * CSSB 1237 is a HUGE step backwards for parental and medical privacyrights. Please encourage the Senator to vote against CSSB 1237.* The current vaccine registry law is OPT-IN. It correctly requires mydoctor, insurance company or the health department to get my consent beforereleasing my child's record or entering it into the registry. * This bill contains language that would undo these protections by requiringdoctors and insurance companies to release every child's record to TDHwithout parental consent. I am strongly opposed to this. - Removal of Opt-In written consent requirements: CS SB 1237 p. 1 lines36-39 - Doctors Release Data without Consent: CS SB 1237 p. 2 lines 5-10 & p.2 lines 14-18 - Insurance Companies Release Data Without Consent: CS SB 1237 p. 1lines 58-61 & p.1 lines 63-64 and p. 2 lines 1-4.* As the parent of MY child, it should be MY responsibility and MYresponsibility alone to determine who gets to see my child's medical record.* The OPT-OUT provisions in this bill are a scam because my child's recordswould be sent to TDH no matter what. A parent would have to track TDH downand make the request in writing to have their child's vaccine recordremoved, however the action of opting out would then cause the child'spersonal identifiable information to be permanently entered into another TDHcomputer file of "non-consenters" (called a firewall database by TDH). - OPT-OUT only in writing to TDH: CS SB 1237 p. 3 lines 1-6 - TDH Firewall "Nonconsenters" Database: CS SB 1237 p. 3 lines 6-8 * If I trusted TDH to have any of this information on my child, I would haveOPTED-IN under the current law to begin with. TDH has a history of blatantdisregard for parental and medical privacy rights under the current law.Millions of children were found to have been entered illegally without theparental consent required and some parents who have found their childrenentered without consent have tried unsuccessfully to have their childremoved.* I do not want to have my child's medical details released to persons I donot know, for purposes I cannot predict, which may be contrary to my child'sbest interests. * Doctors, insurance companies, and TDH should have to continue to operateunder the current law and obtain my permission in order to release anyportion of my child's confidential medical record or enter it into agovernment database. If you let them rationalize releasing a child'smedical record for this without parental consent, what and who will be next?--------------------Vaccine Tracking Registries: A Threat to Parental and Medical Privacy RightsOppose CSSB 1237 by Senator MoncriefBackground-NationalState vaccine tracking registries being promoted in the name of protectingthe public health are simply a smokescreen for the creation of yet anothergovernment-operated system that will further invade our privacy and takeaway endangered liberties.The threat that these registries pose is real: computerized databasesoperated by the government for the purpose of tagging and tracking everychild have been and increasingly will be used to punish citizens fordisagreement and non-compliance with government dictated health care orother policies.Federal and state health officials and the financial benefactors of such anenforcement system have worked tirelessly over the last decade to developmethods for "capturing" every child to be the ultimate "guardian" of allchildren's private medical records. This direct undermining of our parentaland medical privacy rights by some legislators and bureaucrats claiming theyare "doing it for the children" is the scam being propagated to lay thefoundation for expanded government control over health care and otherprivate areas of our lives.From the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention's NationalImmunization Program: "NIP supports the ultimate goal of enrollment of allU.S. preschool children in state or community-based immunization registriesthat are able to exchange information with other registries, integrate withthe healthcare delivery system, and support essential public healthfunctions. We see registries as the possible first step in the developmentof an electronic pediatric medical record."The flaw in this plan is that governments don't raise children - parents do,and our ability to protect our children from bureaucratic and industryinfluence needs to be fiercely protected. Background-TexasSince 1995, the Texas Department of Health (TDH) has been relentless intheir pursuit to gain control of our children's immunization records withoutour consent. Fortunately the hard work, vigilance and dedication of parents and somelegislators opposing TDH's scheme helped shape the current registry law intoone of the most protective of parental and medical privacy rights in thecountry. HB 3054 passed in the 75th Legislature requiring doctors andinsurance companies to obtain OPT-IN written informed consent of the parentbefore releasing a child's immunization records to the health department andrequiring the Texas Department of Health to obtain OPT-IN written informedconsent of the parent before the child's immunization record is entered intothe registry. Unfortunately TDH and doctors have dangerously convinced some legislatorsthat parental and medical privacy rights are a burden and are not worthpreserving. They want to undo the current legislative protections with abill that would allow doctors and insurance companies to automaticallyrelease every child's private record to the Texas Department of Health enmasse without parental consent for the immediate purpose of tracking andenforcing an overzealous and inflexible state immunization schedule and forlong term purposes that we are not even able to conceive at this time. Under CSSB 1237, the burden of consent would be shifted where a parent wouldhave to OPT-OUT of the registry, and the only way they could accomplish thiswould be by writing directly to the Health Department. Under this bill, theaction of opting out would cause the child's personal identifiableinformation to be entered into another state health department computer fileof "non-consenters" (called a firewall database by TDH) accomplishing theirintrusive goal of tagging and tracking every single child. This is a hugestep backwards for parental and medical privacy rights, and for thesereasons, this bill has to be stopped.Even under the current OPT-IN law, the names of 3.3 million children werefound to have been entered illegally by TDH without the statutorily requiredparental consent. Fortunately, a legislative inquiry by Senator Jerry resulted in hundreds of thousands of these names being deleted,but some parents have reported that even though they never gave consent,their children are still in the database and their attempts to have theirchild's record removed have been unsuccessful. Currently, TDH obtains what they consider to constitute positive informedconsent from a one millimeter sized check box on the birth certificateapplication to which hospital staff frequently check "yes" for the motherwho is busy delivering her baby at the time the form is filled out. Thissubversive tactic is the way that TDH is able to make the highlyquestionable claim that 98% of parents "want" their child's immunizationrecords tracked for them by the health department. This is not the kind ofbehavior that should be rewarded with more power and control.-----------(if you want to read the bill, link to www.capitol.state.tx.us and type SB1237 and click on the text of the Senate Committee Report). -------------------------------------------------------------------Dawn PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)prove@... (email)http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)-------------------------------------------------------------------PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies andpractices that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is toprevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right ofevery person to make informed independent vaccination decisions forthemselves and their family.-------------------------------------------------------------------This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.-------------------------------------------------------------------Subscribe to PROVE Email Updates: Click here http://vaccineinfo.net//subscribe.htm-------------------------------------------------------------------Removal from PROVE Email Updates:Click here: http://vaccineinfo.net/unsubscribe.htm You are currently subscribed as L.Ruede@... <<[PROVE] Govt. attempts toseize our medical records>> ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDEDHERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUEDAS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TOBE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUEAND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOURHEALTH CARE PROVIDER.