All — yes, all — vaccine requirements could still be eliminated by Kansas lawmakers
Like every other state, Kansas requires a variety of vaccinations for young children, all designed to prevent deadly diseases — polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and others.
“Routine childhood immunizations against infectious diseases are an integral part of our public health infrastructure,” says the American Academy of Pediatrics. “STAND UP for your kids to keep them healthy,” says Nurture KC. “If you don’t, who will? Vaccines save lives.”
So it’s beyond disturbing that some Kansas lawmakers may still try, this year, to loosen or eliminate all vaccine requirements in the state. Yes, all, not just those involving the COVID-19 vaccine.
No such bill exists — yet. But one lawmaker is “quite confident” an anti-vaccine proposal will be introduced later in the session, as a last-minute amendment to an existing bill, or as a “gut and go” measure. Five other legislators voiced similar concerns.
The state Senate is already considering a bill requiring pharmacists to fill prescriptions for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 treatment. A measure prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine requirements for members of the Kansas National Guard is also on the table.
These bills, and others, could become anti-vaccine vehicles, we’re told.
Lawmakers may also try to give the Kansas Department of Health and Environment secretary unilateral authority to waive any vaccine requirement in the state, a prospect that should concern every Kansan who values the safety of his or her family.
There is, of course, a twisted logic in extending COVID-19 vaccine exemptions to other inoculations and medicines. As we’ve said before, it makes no sense to make kids get shots to prevent polio and then claim COVID-19 vaccines are tyranny.
But eliminating shots for students and preschoolers, even indirectly, cannot be the answer. It would risk the health of every child in the state, along with the health of those who care for them, teach them and provide for them.
Kansans who oppose this anti-vaccine craziness must make their views known now. Why? Because anti-vax legislators may do their damage quietly, at the last minute, with few hearings or open discussion.
A nonprofit called Kansans for Health Freedom is at work, with the stated goal of mobilizing “the grass roots of Kansans to stop all mandated vaccinations.” The group sponsored a gathering for anti-vaxxers last fall.
Kansas legislators — we’re looking at you, state Sen. Mark Steffen — have made ominous statements about vaccines. National organizations, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense, have launched campaigns designed to eliminate state vaccine mandates.
To their credit, Republican leaders in Topeka have generally resisted broad-based plans to eliminate vaccine requirements. An anti-vax proposal died in last year’s special session, as it should have. The facts have not changed.
Anti-vax advocates continue to insist that their work protects “freedom.” You are not free to drink alcohol and drive or to shout fire in a crowded theater. Those laws, like vaccine laws, protect everyone’s health and safety.
And there is little freedom for a sick child in a hospital bed, or in an iron lung, or worse. Freedom requires responsibility, not a rejection of it.
Call your representative or senator. Tell them the state’s vaccine rules must remain intact.