Policy Efforts
November 28, 2022: Commented on the State’s Review of its Immunization Regulations
On October 17, the Board of Health published a notice regarding the periodic review of the regulations for the immunization of school children. According to the notice, “The purpose of this review is to determine whether this regulation should be repealed, amended, or retained in its current form. Public comment is sought on the review of any issue relating to this regulation, including whether the regulation (i) is necessary for the protection of public health, safety, and welfare.”
Please read our comment letter.
June 2022: Submitted Comments to the Virginia Department of Health
The Chapter submitted a public comment on the Virginia Department of Public Health’s periodic review required by law to ensure compliance with legislation passed in 2020 regarding the vaccination schedule for Virginia’s school children. The 2020 law changed the law to require that the Commonwealth follow the CDC recommended schedule of childhood vaccines in order to attend school. Our letter outlined our opposition to this approach and included the following reasons: 1) Requiring adherence to the CDC schedule subjects Virginia’s children to a cookie cutter, one size fits all immunization schedule; 2) The CDC schedule is based on recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) – a body made up of unelected officials with numerous conflicts of interest and a history of approving virtually every vaccine that has come before its review; 3) The requirement to follow the CDC schedule will continuously subject Virginia’s children to an ever increasing number of vaccines as hundreds of vaccines are being developed, many of which will eventually be approved by the CDC and added to the vaccination schedule; 4) Virginia parents have lost the ability to determine which shots they want to give their children. Vaccines, like all medical interventions, should be done on an individual basis and based on the individual child’s health; 5) We believe the primary motivation to implement a requirement to follow the CDC schedule was a desire to facilitate the job of school administrators rather than improve the health of Virginia’s children.
December 2021 and January 2022: Petition to Governor Elect Youngkin
On January 16th, we sent a letter to the new Governor of Virginia thanking him for issuing executive order #2 that called for a parent’s right to decide whether a child wears a mask, for his executive directive that protected Virginia state workers’ right to bodily autonomy; and for joining other states in opposing federal vaccine mandates. In this same letter, we also urged the Governor to take further action and heed the warning of over 16,000 physicians and medical scientists around the world who believe that healthy children should not be vaccinated for COVID-19. We also transmitted the names and comments of more than 2,000 Virginians who signed a petition to the Governor asking him to sign an executive order reaffirming his campaign promise to protect Virginia parents’ most fundamental right to make informed medical decisions on behalf of their children.
September and October 2021: Opposition to Citizen Petition to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccine for School Children and Teachers
The chapter publicized a citizen petition that requested the Commonwealth 1) mandate vaccines for all school employees, with only medical exemptions allowed and 2) mandate the vaccine for all students for whom the vaccine has been fully approved. Our outreach efforts generated more than 15,000 comments — the most ever received on any citizen petition — with the vast majority opposing the mandates. comments.