The new law concerning school vaccinations has gone from “required” to “consent.” This information is supplied by the United States Supreme Court.
As provided by attorney Sarah J. Cripps, “Yes, it is (the above), along with various moral and religious exceptions in the law.”
The “Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued an alert that measles cases are up, urging healthcare providers to watch for the disease.” This was the Friday headlines on the CNN broadcast channel.
The entire crux of the situation is that “U. S. health officials are warning clinicians to be alert for cases of measles following several outbreaks, largely among children who were eligible for the vaccine but did not receive it.” Healthcare providers should look for patients with rash and fever, symptoms of measles, and pay attention to patients who have traveled internationally, the alert stipulated.
Measles is a “vaccine-preventable” disease, said attorney Sarah J. Cripps, “The full-regiment of the MMR vaccine provides near-complete immunity.”
In accordance, “We know what vaccines do and that they save lives,” said Dr. Megan Edwards, Knox County, Tennessee Public Health officer.
Last week, the CDC’s alert continued, “About one- fifth of people who get measles will be hospitalized. About one in 1,000 people who develop the virus develop brain swelling that can lead to brain damage. One to three in a thousand people will die from the disease.” While continuing, “Vaccination rates have dropped in the U.S. In recent measles cases, the virus originates from unvaccinated U.S. residents who travel internationally and transmit the disease to others who aren’t immune.”
In a recent interview, Dr. Hugh Don Cripps of Smithville, Tennessee said, “Measles is highly contagious for people who are not vaccinated or immune. The virus spreads via droplets usually after a person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms appear a week or two following exposure and can include runny nose, cough, and high fever with a reddish or hyper-pigmented rash that first develops at the hairline before spreading to the neck and downward.”
In less than one year (July 26, 2023), a new Tennessee law “requires” parental consent for all vaccinations. Never mind the earlier laws stipulating that all students enrolling in Tennessee schools must be vaccinated. Times have changed for better or worse. It depends on which side you’re taking in this very public debatable matter. It seems to semi-border on the key word “consent.”
In continuation, most everyone knows my thoughts and feelings about this topic and other topics within this same framework. Rather than editorialize this article, I will not write any opinionated jargon.
Now, measles slowly is spreading throughout the United States and there is a reason. Read my lips!
It’s because some parents have decided NOT to have their school children immunized and these unvaccinated children are the spreaders. For example, the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) shot protects children from these diseases. Without being vaccinated, the diseases spread. Currently, Florida is dealing with this same matter into an almost manganous degree. When I, and my children, were beginning elementary school in differing centuries, we were mandated by state law to be fully vaccinated before we could attend school. Times have changed for the good or the bad? “No one today believes in medical science like we did yesterday.”
On January 25, 2022, “Following the victory of Tennessee and 26 other states at the United States Supreme Court, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) agreed to withdraw the ETS (Educational Testing Service) vaccine mandate. OSHA is instead treating this as a proposed rule, subject to the normal notice-and-comment rulemaking process. The rule is not in force during the notice-and-comment process,” wrote the www.tngov.com.
In another legal ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied the federal government’s request to stay (stop the legal proceeding) the district court’s injection of the vaccine mandate for federal contractors in Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.
In April, 2023, lawmakers passed a bill prohibiting healthcare providers from vaccinating anyone under age 18 without informed consent from a parent or legal guardian. If students don’t have an exemption, they cannot return to school unless they are vaccinated. This is a state law. Webster defines “consent” as “an agreement to do something.” The word “mandatory” means “required by law or rules; compulsory.”
“The vaccines are the same,” wrote the Knoxville Journal newspaper, “but how the children receive them is different.” By Tennessee law, students are required to get “consent” from their parent or guardian to receive their current immunizations. The former word “mandatory” has gone out the window in defining our current vaccine description!
The Tennessee Department of Health is responsible for immunization requirements for those who attend child care, pre-school, school and college. The current immunization requirements can be found in the Tennessee Department of Health Rules. The local DeKalb County Health Department is located at 254 Tiger Drive, Smithville, TN with the telephone number of 615-597-7599. All vaccination information can be acquired there.
Authorities familiar with the MMR vaccine agree that had these persons been vaccinated against the MMR, there would NOT be a growing influx of measles currently anywhere in the United States. If you’re not vaccinated against MMR, then you’ll just have to itch and look weird.
On another note, “Some states have ruled that the refusal to vaccinate constitutes “child neglect.” This statement seems to be the consensus of local professionals.
Furthermore, as to the asinine reasons why parents decide NOT to vaccinate, the answers are, “Personal Beliefs.” Some parents feel that there is a benefit to allowing kids to experience childhood illnesses to boost immunity. Parents also may be concerned about putting chemicals in their children’s bodies and feel that vaccines aren’t “natural” enough. In a backdrop, local attorney Cripps countered, “No one wants to see a child suffering just because of immunity. That comes easily enough. If one wants to refer to bad chemicals, they should look at the dangerous chemicals emitted from cigarette smoking or second-hand smoke!”
In conclusion, students cannot return to school without getting the required vaccines unless they have a state-approved religious or medical vaccine exemption. Children with pre-existing diseases can be “ruled” by the recommendation of his/her medical physician.
In closing, Cripps said, “With some parents refusing to give consent to having their children vaccinated, they are, thereby, opening the door wide for unvaccinated children to transfer highly contagious viruses to their classmates and others in the community.”
