Whatever your stance on vaccinations, the state’s unauthorized intervention in a child’s healthcare can have significant consequences for some kids. In those cases, it’s parents and doctors that are positioned to make the best health decision for each child.
But California Senate Bill 866 would change that.
Authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), SB 866 would allow children as young as 12 years of age or older to override their parents or doctors’ decisions to withhold any vaccine without the consent or notification of their parents.
The bill would apply to any vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
SB 866 is an assault on the rights of every parent in California. The bill poses a serious threat to the health and safety of children who may have medical issues that put them at greater risk of adverse reactions from vaccines, and makes children vulnerable to being pressured into receiving vaccines without their parents’ oversight.
If a school thinks a child is missing a critical vaccination, they should contact the parent.
Instead, our legislature wants to encourage hiding children’s vaccination status from parents.
Senator Wiener calls this “empowering” students. But true empowerment would be working alongside parents rather than against them.
Tell your legislator that parents should be the only ones making health decisions for their children.