Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist
As TFTP reported earlier this month, a large portion of the country has decided that they do not want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. As a result in the drop in demand, states are making moves to entice those who may be on the fence about getting that jab. We’ve seen states offer everything from free beers to millions in prizes to get citizens roll up their sleeves. In some states, officials have begun targeting children by allowing them to get the vaccine without their parents’ consent.
Before the FDA had even approved Pfizer’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12-15, San Francisco issued a health order allowing children to receive the shot without parental consent. ORDER OF THE HEALTH OFFICER No. C19-19 reads as follows:
Minors under the age of 18 are showing increasing numbers of infections, and California law does not generally allow such minors to consent to receipt of the vaccine even though the State considers the vaccine to be general medical care and national pediatric groups recommend the vaccine for those 16 years of age and older. Many minors have a parent, guardian, or other person with legal authority who will consent to their receipt of the vaccine, but that is not true in all situations. It remains vital to the health of all in the community—including adults who cannot or will not receive the vaccine as well as people who have been fully vaccinated (due to the ongoing possibility of breakthrough infections)—that every person, including minors, who wants to receive the vaccine be given the opportunity.
For those reasons, this Order does two things. First, it allows minors in the City and County of San Francisco (the “City”) who are 12 years old or older to consent to receive any vaccine against COVID-19 that has been authorized by the FDA (whether authorized in an emergency use basis or fully approved) for receipt by someone who is the age of that minor. The healthcare provider administering the vaccine dose must reasonably attempt to notify a person with legal authority to consent to medical care for that minor, such as a parent or guardian, and allow that person the opportunity to object to administration of that dose.
San Francisco is one of many municipalities where this is taking place. Minor consent exceptions exist in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas,
Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia, as well as Washington D.C.
Because the current Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J vaccines have been only authorized by the FDA under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), the safety and effectiveness data are still being collected. This means the current mass vaccination program is an experiment in an on-going study in which researchers may still find small effect-size side effects.
It is a fact that vaccines that receive EUA are considered experimental until the FDA formally approves it as it is entirely possible that a rare side effect will be found after mass vaccination allows a longer term of observation on a larger number of people.
The idea of the state circumventing parental authority and giving children an experimental shot without their parents’ consent is utterly shocking. What’s more Supreme Court precedent has been clearly established and has held for decades that parents have both the duty and the right to direct the care, custody, and control of their minor children. This move in San Francisco and others like it are in direct conflict with said Supreme Court precedent and contrary to the U.S. Constitution.
In fact, in its 1979 Parham v. J.R. decision, the Supreme Court declared that the state cannot make these decisions:
“Simply because the decision of a parent is not agreeable to a child, or because it involves risks, does not automatically transfer the power to make that decision from the parents to some agency or officer of the state. The same characterizations can be made for a tonsillectomy, appendectomy, or other medical procedure. Most children, even in adolescence, simply are not able to make sound judgments concerning many decisions, including their need for medical care or treatment. Parents can and must make those judgments.”
The state taking parental rights away and allowing impressionable children to be guided by government motives is a terrifying notion. Nevertheless, it is happening.
Minors are being allowed to get the vaccine without parental consent all over. Here’s a public health order from San Francisco. NOT OKAY, especially with the myocarditis reports piling up. pic.twitter.com/ikxYY2SS9b
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) May 26, 2021
There have been 4,863 deaths reported to the CDC’s VAERS system since December, some of which have been children. Medical professionals, schools, politicians, and health directors should not be permitted to coerce impressionable children into a medical procedure capable of causing injury or death behind their parents’ back. This is utter insanity, yet it is becoming a matter of policy.
Here at the Free Thought Project, we are not “anti-vaxxers” but rather advocate for informed consent and vaccine safety. Removing parental consent flies in the face of both of these and sets us on a path down a very slippery slope.
If this blatant attack on parental rights isn’t called out, rest assured it will spread to other states and this slippery slope could remove parental rights entirely, handing over all parental duties to the state — a terrifying though indeed.