[PROVE] ACTION OPPOSE HB1816 Meningitis Vaccine Mandate

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Joyfully, M. Guppyhttp://www.facebook.com/MGuppy Join my "Life with Autism" blog: www.MGuppy.blogspot.com ----- Forwarded Message ----To: PROVE-TX@...Sent: Wed, March 16, 2011 12:12:02 AMSubject: [PROVE] ACTION OPPOSE HB1816 Meningitis Vaccine Mandate

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Contact UsEmail NewsletterDear PROVE Texas

Members,ACTION ALERT: HELP OPPOSE HB1816 (SB 1107) in TexasWe have just learned that HB 1816 by Representative Charlie , which would require ALL students in Texas entering college to be vaccinated for meningitis in order to be allowed to attend school, is set for a public hearing Wednesday morning in the House Public Health committee at 8:00 am.We realize this is extremely short notice and we apologize. We also were honestly caught off guard by the scheduling of this bill during spring break too, however we have to make the best of it and if you are able to please take some action in the next couple of days to oppose HB 1816, it is very much needed and appreciated. We realize it is almost impossible for you to make the hearing first thing in the morning, but wanted to let you know in case some of you were

close by. Also, even if you get this alert during or after the hearing, please do still contact committee members since they don’t always vote right away, and especially contact your own representative and senator.Sincerely,Dawn and RexParents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE)http://vaccineinfo.net/ TXDirector@... 1) Call, email, and/or fax the Members of the House Public Health Committee asking them to OPPOSE HB1816 which is scheduled for a hearing in the House Public Health Committee on 3/16/11. Talking points and sample letter format are posted below. MemberPHONEFAXEMAIL FORMRep. Lois W. Kolkhorst ©http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=13 & session=82 Rep. Elliott Naishtat (VC)http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=49 & session=82 Rep. Carol Alvaradohttp://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=145 & session=82Rep. Garnet http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=147 & session=82 Rep. http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=134 & session=82 Rep. http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=41 & session=82 Rep. Kinghttp://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=71 & session=82 Rep. Jodie Laubenberghttp://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=89 & session=82Rep. Schwertnerhttp://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=20 & session=82 Rep. Vicki Truitthttp://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=98 & session=82 Rep. Zerwashttp://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/email/?district=28 & session=822) Plan on attending the public hearing to OPPOSE HB 1816 on March 16th at 8:00 am in the House Public Health Committee, Capitol Extension Hearing Room E2.012 in the Capitol Extension Building underground on the 2nd floor, in Austin TX. http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/spb/plan/Map.htm Please RSVP to TXDirector@... and let us know if you can commit to attend so we can get you more information and keep you in the loop. We need people to give 2-3 minutes of concise respectful testimony at the hearing but if you just want to come and don’t want to testify that is ok. We also need some people to show their opposition by just showing up and

attending, signing in at the hearing room in opposition to the bill, and supporting those who do get up to testify in opposition to HB1816. If you are preparing oral or written testimony, please come prepared with 22 copies of your written testimony to turn in to the committee clerk when you sign in to be a part of the public record. Again, we apologize for the short notice and realize this is almost impossible. We should have more notice on the next hearing.3) Contact your own Texas State Representative and Senator asking them to Oppose HB1816 and companion SB1107. You can register and log on to the Texas State Team Page of the NVIC Advocacy

Portal on http://nvicadvocacy.org/ to view talking points (also listed below at the bottom) and can be linked directly to your personal state legislators and their contact information or you can link to http://legis.state.tx.us and use the state form on the right side of the screen to enter your address information to have your state legislators displayed. 4) Stay connected through the legislative session. If this alert was forwarded to you by a friend, please make sure we can continue to provide you with more information by signing up for PROVE email alerts at http://vaccineinfo.net and also please sign up for NVIC’s Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org. This will allow you to view current legislative information for Texas on our Texas state team page, receive important email updates of our efforts to expand and protect vaccine exemptions in your state and be automatically linked to your personal legislators and their contact information when you log into the site. Phone Calls: · Introduce yourself and identify where you are calling from (if it is your rep or senator identify yourself as a constituent)· Ask that they please oppose HB1816 and Companion SB1107 and let them know that these bills would require ALL students in Texas entering college – not just those living in a dorm – to be vaccinated for meningitis in order to be allowed to attend school.· Pick a couple of the talking points below to inform them why. Try to include why this is important to your family personally if you can in one or two sentences.· Thank them. Above all, always be polite. If they have an opposing view to yours, don’t look at it as opposition. Instead view it as an opportunity to start a relationship and understand that they have been repeatedly contacted by those who stand to gain financially if this passes and it is up to us to be persistent and provide more information to undo the biased and often inaccurate information they most likely have received to date.Faxes and Emails:· Address it to: The Honorable (Representative or Senator’s Name)· Have the first line in your letter either bold, underlined or highlighted asking them to Oppose HB1816 and Companion SB1107.· Pick a couple of the talking points below to inform them why. · Try to include why this is important to your family personally if you can in a few sentences at the beginning.· Include your mailing address and contact information in your closing.· This should be NO LONGER than 1 side of a piece of paper.Again, please keep your tone polite and informative while expressing your concerns. If this is going to a member of the House Public Health Committee, let them know the HB1816 is/had a public hearing on Wed. March 16th and that we are requesting that they vote no.

Sample Letter with Talking Points to Oppose HB1816 and SB1107:You are welcome to use part or all of this letter or just use it to get ideas or even write your own. Please just make sure you personalize it by letting your legislators know why this is important to you. Here is some recent media coverage of this issue, http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/battle-brewing-over-mandatory-meningitis-vaccine/[DATE]The Honorable Firstname Lastname,I urge you to OPPOSE

HB1816 and SB1107 which uses the force of law to mandate the meningitis vaccine for all incoming college students because a meningitis vaccine mandate is unnecessary, the current vaccines are not proven effective, and there are outstanding safety questions surrounding the use of this vaccine. A Meningitis Vaccine Mandate is UNNECESSARYThe meningitis vaccine and information about it is already available to every college student The Texas Education Code, in section 51.9191, already requires institutes of higher education to not only provide the following information relating to bacterial meningitis to new students, but it also requires institutes of higher education to make a reasonable attempt to obtain a written confirmation that the student has

received it:(1) the symptoms of the disease, how it may be diagnosed, and its possible consequences if untreated;(2) how the disease is transmitted, how it may be prevented, and the relative risk of contracting the disease for students of institutions of higher education;(3) the availability and effectiveness of vaccination against and treatment for the disease, including how students of the institution may seek vaccination or treatment and whether a vaccination is available from the student health center, and a brief description of the risks and possible side effects of vaccination; and(4) sources of additional information regarding the disease and include the telephone numbers of the

student health center, if there is a student health center, and the appropriate office of the Texas Department of Health.http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.51.htm#51.9191If a student is not interested in the vaccine even after the state has required informed consent in current law, the state needs to leave them alone and not try and force them with a mandate. Proponents of this bill want to instead use the force of law to mandate the vaccine for all students. Invasive meningococcal disease is very rare, deaths exceedingly rareAccording to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the number of confirmed cases of Neisseria meningitis in

all of Texas were 55 in 2005, 37 in 2006, 52 in 2007, 63 in 2008, and 46 in 2009. http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/disease/meningococcal_invasive/ According to the Texas Medical Association, in the entire United States, at most 15 college students have died from it. http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=16418 & terms=meningitis Most college age students are already are naturally protected without vaccinationAccording to "Prevention of Meningococcal Disease" by Pierce Gardner, MD published in the New England Journal of Medicine: "Colonization

induces an immunologic response to N. Meningitides (as do certain organisms in the enteric flora that have cross-reacting antigens), so that by young adulthood, the majority of people in the United States have measurable antibody to the pathogenic serogroups of N. Meningitides (A, B, C, Y, and W-135)."https://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/14/1466Meningitis is Not Casually Contagious According to the CDC: "Fortunately, none of the bacteria that cause meningitis are as contagious as things like the common cold or the flu. Also, the bacteria are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air

where a person with meningitis has been." http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/about/transmission.html Current Meningitis Vaccines are NOT PROVEN EFFECTIVEVaccines Missing Prevalent B SerogroupAccording to "Prevention of Meningococcal Disease" by Pierce Gardner, MD published in the New England Journal of Medicine: "A major limitation of these vaccines is that neither provides immunity against serogroup B, which is responsible for approximately one third of cases of meningococcal disease." https://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/14/1466Vaccine efficacy not tested for prevalent Y or W-135 SerogroupsAccording to the vaccine package insert published by the vaccine manufacturer: "No studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines against disease due to serogroups Y and W-135."http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm230717.htm#1 Questionable Duration of ProtectionAccording to the vaccine package insert published by the vaccine manufacturer: "The duration of protection following immunization is not

known."http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM201349.pdfSafety Questions Raised by Current Meningitis VaccinesAcknowledged Serious Side EffectsAll 3 current meningitis vaccines carry warnings for Guillain-Barré syndrome, a serious and devastating neurological disease.Menactra: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM131170.pdf Menomune: http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm230717.htm#1 Manveo: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM201349.pdf Incomplete Safety TestingAll 3 current meningitis vaccines have not been evaluated in animals for their carcinogenic or mutagenic potentials or for impairment of fertility.Menactra: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM131170.pdf Menomune: http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm230717.htm#1 Manveo: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM201349.pdf No Liability or Accountability for Vaccine ManufacturersOn February

22, 2011, the US Supreme Court shielded vaccine manufacturers from all liability for vaccine injuries and deaths even if the manufacturer could have made a vaccine safer.http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf In conclusion, I believe strongly that not only should legislators strongly reject HB1816 and SB1107, I would like to request that you consider supporting directing the Texas Department of State Health Services to revoke all mandates currently forcing meningococcal vaccine use in Texas through rule. The availability of vaccine exemptions in Texas is no excuse for bad policy. Please vote no on HB1816 and SB1107.Sincerely,[Your NameYour AddressYour phone and/or

email]PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and practices that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is to prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their family. This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.Contact PROVE http://vaccineinfo.net/contactus.htmSubscribe to PROVE Email Newsletter http://vaccineinfo.net/subscribe.htmUnsubscribe from PROVE Email Newsletter http://vaccineinfo.net/unsubscribe.htmTell a Friend about PROVE http://vaccineinfo.net/friends.htm