March 20, 2023 at 1:51 p.m.
Rules committee nixes meningitis vaccine requirement for students
Lawmakers remove DHS emergency powers for meningitis, chickenpox outbreaks
By Richard Moore-rmmoore1@frontier.com
The vote along party lines was 6-4, with Republican members in the majority. The rule had only taken effect Feb. 1, and the committee's suspension makes the blocked provision unenforceable until at least April 2024.
The committee co-chairman, Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), said the Department of Health Services' (DHS) bid to require the shot was wholly unwarranted.
"[The joint rules committee], once again, met its oversight duty relating to the improper actions taken by DHS to enact binding administrative code provisions that were arbitrary and capricious, as well as placing undue hardships on the families of this state," Nass said. "[The committee's] suspension action restores the reasonable right of parents to make immunization decisions for their children regarding the meningitis vaccine and the process for exempting children that have had the chickenpox (Varicella) disease from the vaccination mandate."
In addition to removing the first and second doses of the meningitis vaccine, as well as other references to it in the rule, the committee removed a new requirement that a physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice nurse prescriber must confirm a child's history of chickenpox for the student to be exempt from having to receive that vaccine.
Previously, Nass said, the administrative code required only that a parent document that their child had previously had chickenpox for the exemption to apply.
The committee also removed the chicken pox and meningococcal diseases from the list of diseases for which DHS can exercise "substantial outbreak" powers. Nass said those were new additions to the list.
Under that provision, when the department determines that a "substantial outbreak" exists in a school or municipality, the department can require that non-vaccinated students be excluded from the school, including those who have received vaccine waivers because of health, religion, or personal conviction.
The action followed a public hearing when parents and other citizens urged the committee to protect parental rights and medical freedom.
Parents packed the committee room to oppose the new vaccine requirements; state epidemiologist Dr. Ryan Westergaard - whom Nass at one point called Wisconsin's Dr. Fauci - spoke about the potential dangers of meningitis and Dr. Stephanie Schauer, the state immunization program manager, observed that the Centers for Disease Control had recommended the vaccination for students since 2005.
Wisconsin United for Freedom, a citizens group for vaccine choice and health freedom, played a major role in pushing for the public hearing and in galvanizing opposition to the new vaccine requirements.
After the suspension of the rules, Tara Czachor, a cofounder of WUFF, said Wisconsinites from across the state had attended the hearing to make their voices heard and to tell their elected officials they did not want any more vaccination requirements added to the childhood schedule.
"How many is too many, and who gets to decide?" Czachor asked. "Wisconsin DHS should not be unilaterally making additional vaccine requirements for Wisconsin children without legislative oversight. We are very happy with this outcome, and that Wisconsin parents will continue to be in the driver's seat as it relates to medical decisions for their children."
Making their cases
DHS had announced the updated vaccine requirements in early February.
"Each of these vaccines is already recommended for children, and today's update improves that protection," DHS deputy secretary Deb Standridge said in announcing the updates. "Parents who choose to keep their children up to date on vaccinations are not only protecting their own child's health but are making a choice that protects the people who live and work in their communities."
Standridge said vaccines were safe and effective and one of the strongest tools available to prevent people from getting sick.
"Some diseases can be deadly, especially to young children," she said. "DHS encourages all parents to work with their child's health care provider to ensure their child is up to date on immunizations."
Standridge said current immunization rates were declining in 2021-22, with 88.7 percent of students meeting the minimum immunization requirements, a 3.2 percent decrease from the previous year, while 3.3 percent of students were behind schedule on their vaccinations, up .4 percent from the previous year.
But in standing against the new vaccine requirements, WUFF argued that the meningococcal vaccine should not be added as a requirement for school entry, for one thing because Wisconsin already has a high voluntary uptake of that vaccine.
"Over 80 percent of parents are already choosing to have their children ages 13-18 vaccinated for [the meningitis vaccine] since 2019," the group states on its website. "The CDC confirms that as American children enter adolescence and become adults, the vast majority will have asymptomatically developed immunity to meningococcal disease."
According to the CDC, the group asserts, meningococcal vaccine does not achieve herd immunity.
What's more, it asserts, DHS advocated for requiring the meningococcal vaccine for 7th and 12th graders at the same time that the stakeholders who were working on the rule changes were also advocating for the removal of Wisconsin's personal exemption to vaccination for daycare students and K-12 students.
"Doctors, nurses, and medical professionals typically do not inform parents of their right to opt out of any of Wisconsin's required vaccinations for children to attend school, do not make exemption information available, hesitatingly distribute it when demanded by parents, and have a vested interest in parents not knowing their rights regarding exemptions," WUFF states.
Prior to the rules' suspension, WUFF says DHS had already alerted day care centers and schools of the new updates, but in many cases without providing additional reminders that Wisconsin has personal, religious, and medical vaccination exemptions.
Then, too, the group argues, the rule-making authority process that allows DHS to change vaccine mandates removes the process from legislators who are accountable to their voting constituents.
Wisconsin United for Freedom also supported removing chickenpox from the "severe outbreak" category that gives DHS emergency powers.
"Chickenpox is a mild childhood illness and does not need to be classified under the 'substantial outbreak' category," WUFF states. "Chickenpox occurs among vaccinated children who can also transmit the illness to others making it unnecessary for DHS to exclude only unvaccinated children from school in the event of an outbreak. Chickenpox vaccines do not prevent cases of breakthrough chickenpox."
Richard Moore is the author of "Dark State" and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.
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