Oppose

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) believes that dialogue between parent and child should be encouraged. NYCF fully supports a parent’s decision to vaccinate their children, and has no issue with educational efforts concerning disease prevention, but this bill violates parental rights.

The bill would allow health practitioners (a very broad classification of health care providers) to administer vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases to children without parental notification or consent.

By removing the requirement that sexually transmitted disease prevention or treatment be provided "by licensed physician or staff physician of a hospital", crisis or planned pregnancy centers could administer vaccinations (such as the HPV vaccination) without even notifying the child's parents.

Children cannot get an aspirin in school without parental permission. But under this bill, school nurses could give potentially dangerous vaccinations to nine-year-old girls without even notifying the minor’s parents.

Vaccinations are not without risk. The HPV vaccination, known as Gardasil, can potentially interact with a host of other medications.^[1]

Most minors are not prepared to discuss their medical history and possible interactions with medical professionals. School nurses or crisis pregnancy center health care practitioners may not have access to a child’s complete medical history, and thus could be prescribing medications that will interact with other medications.

Protecting parental rights, not undermining them, should be the priority of the New York State Legislature. For these reasons, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms stands opposed to this legislation.

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^[1]http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/g/gardasil/gardasil_pi.pdf as of February 8, 2010.