PREAMBLE
What follows is my response to an email I received this morning from a good friend of mine. The topic? The possibility of U.S. Government-enforced vaccination procedures on its citizens. If you live in Florida and simply want to know whether someone can legally force you into getting a vaccine, you may want to jump down to where I list parts of the Florida Code near the end. If you're in a different state and worried about this, you may want to search through your state statutes or consult someone who could do that for you. (Perhaps a public legal librarian? They might do it for free. I don't know if those even exist.)
Note: Normally I wouldn't post a personal email without the expressed written consent of the Friends of Justin League, but the only thing in the original email was a section of Wikipedia.
Second note: I've posted this in the standard Arial of Gmail's formatting in order to accurately represent (as closely as possible) the environment and substance of the original exhange, so please excuse this font if it comes as a shock to some of my legion of loyal readers. (Additionally, I will post any follow-up comments/exchanges from my friend or myself upon obtaining the aforementioned expressed written consent...)
ORIGINAL EMAIL
<<<<<
The U.S. government currently has the power to enforce vaccinations in an epidemic or pandemic flu breakout, or even the threat of such, by a measure provided within the Patriot Act. In addition, there is The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, which will have federal funding for each state that adopts a similar model, so far adopted by 38 states and the District of Columbia. States will be allowed to "enforce vaccinations with absolute police power, which includes detention and seizure of private property."
>>>>>
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_vaccine#Political_issues ]
The U.S. government currently has the power to enforce vaccinations in an epidemic or pandemic flu breakout, or even the threat of such, by a measure provided within the Patriot Act. In addition, there is The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, which will have federal funding for each state that adopts a similar model, so far adopted by 38 states and the District of Columbia. States will be allowed to "enforce vaccinations with absolute police power, which includes detention and seizure of private property."
>>>>>
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
MY RESPONSE
What I do know:
I haven't been able to find the appropriate section of the Patriot Act mentioned here (if it does, in fact, exist). The article that is listed as a "source" for this passage in Wikipedia comes from "Paul Fassa, citizen journalist" at: http://www.naturalnews.com/026434_vaccines_vaccination_vaccinations.html.
This doesn't mean he's all wrong. But it does cast doubt because he does not list the pertinent section of the Patriot Act. (His other topics include research programs for delivering vaccinations via mosquitoes and fruit, which were pretty interesting but sort of tangential to this.) I searched around through Google and within the Patriot Act itself and could not find any mentions of forced vaccinations (although, if you look at the PA, it is nearly unreadable. It just mentions other codes and tells how the PA alters them --- e.g., SEC. 502, "Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act... is amended --- (1) in subsection (b) --- ... (B) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and inserting ", including by dismantling an organization in whole or significant part; or"; and..."). I am interested in hearing about it, though, so if you do see the actual place where this is mentioned in the PA, please let me know: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ056.107.pdf.
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, however, does have some merit. You can look at the proposed Act here: http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dph/improving/turningpoint/PDFs/MSPHAweb.pdf.
Section 5-109, entitled "Vaccination" seems to be of interest here.
[a] In General. State and local public health agencies may require vaccination of any individual within their jurisdictions to prevent the introduction or spread of an infectious disease or other condition of public health importance.
[b] Requirements for Conducting Vaccination Programs. In administering any vaccine or vaccination program, the state or local public health agency shall adhere to the following requirements:
(1) Informed consent. No vaccine or vaccination program shall be administered without the prior informed consent of the individual (or legal representative) to whom the vaccine is being administered, except as otherwise provided in this Section;
And so it is basically saying that you have the right to consent to vaccinations... unless they feel like enacting section [a]... in which case you would be subject to vaccinations against your will.
But, this is not the exact legislation that some states have adopted. It was merely a model given by the national government as a guide to writing state laws. To wit:
To date, thirty-three (33) states have introduced a total of one-hundred and thirty-three
(133) legislative bills or resolutions that are based upon or feature provisions related to the
Articles or sections of the Turning Point Act. Forty-eight (48) of these bills or resolutions have
passed.
[emphasis/emboldening is mine throughout all quoted materials]
So the real question comes down to what Florida adopted from the MSEHPA about vaccinations. It looks like the revelant place is Section 381.00315 of the Florida Code... which states:
(1) (b) The State Health Officer, upon declaration of a public health emergency, may take actions that are necessary to protect the public health. Such actions include, but are not limited to: ... [They also define "public health emergency" in this section. -JPD]
4. Ordering an individual to be examined, tested, vaccinated, treated, or quarantined for communicable diseases that have significant morbidity or mortality and present a severe danger to public health. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to be examined, tested, vaccinated, or treated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience may be subjected to quarantine.
a. Examination, testing, vaccination, or treatment may be performed by any qualified person authorized by the State Health Officer.
b. If the individual poses a danger to the public health, the State Health Officer may subject the individual to quarantine. If there is no practical method to quarantine the individual, the State Health Officer may use any means necessary to vaccinate or treat the individual.
...
So, I guess we have the right to refuse examinations, tests, and vaccines in Florida... in which case we would be quarantined... unless there is no suitable way to quarantine us... in which case they could give us a vaccine.
***Related "research" not used in this response:
1) A report from what looks to be a fanatical conspiracy theorist who claims that the World Health Organization has the ability to force the countries who are part of it (the WHO) to vaccinate their (the respective countries') citizens against their (the citizens' and, I guess, possibly the countries') will: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14475.
2) A post that tries to make a Washington Post article seem to say that there's a government conspiracy afoot. It emboldens such innocuous lines as "be first in line for the vaccine" and concludes "Make NO Mistake, Your Children WILL get the flu vaccine" (there is no actual commentary --- just snippets from the article. But that is the title of the post.): http://vactruth.com/2009/07/10/make-no-mistake-your-children-will-get-the-flu-vaccine/.
3) And, perhaps the most absurd thing I saw about this:
MICHAEL JACKSON MAY HAVE BEEN MURDERED, and LA Police are treating his death as a potential homicide. Was he murdered to protect the government's plan to enforce experimental H1N1 vaccine on the world's population? Michael would have denounced enforced vaccines during his tour and expose his belief that the vaccine may be a genocide plot by the New World Order.
So, this isn't to say that there shouldn't be a concern. I just don't think anyone in Florida will bend you over and stab a needle in your tukis.
Excellent post...clarified many questions I had regarding the H1N1 vaccination rumors. Cheers. :)
ReplyDelete