HR 2322: A One-Size-Fits-All Bill to Vaccinate Every American Child With Every Vaccine CDC/ ACIP Recommend

Wow!  Who saw that coming?  The Constitution did not specify that medical care was a federal responsibility, so for over 200 years it has been left to the states.  Yes, fifty years ago we got Medicare and Medicaid, and now the Affordable (for whom?) Care Act, but the specifics of what drugs and vaccines people receive has been left to the states... and to doctors and patients working collaboratively.

Now we have HR 2232 that says every child, all the time, must receive whatever vaccines a group of industry insiders (CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) add to the vaccine schedule.  Is this bill going to be attached as a rider in the dead of night to some other bill and passed before we know it?  The bill is an extraordinary overreach, and it is sad that a black Congresswoman, Frederica Wilson, introduced it.  However, one does not need to look very far to find the long arm of Pharma behind it:  Representative Wilson's senior advisor Kenneth Austin previously worked for Abbott, a pharmaceutical company, and GlaxoSmithKline, a major vaccine manufacturer.

At least the W.H.O. still knows that vaccination decisions should be made through risk-benefit assessment, not one-size-fits-all, shotgun approaches that benefit industry primarily.  We already have the 1995 Vaccines for Children Act that provides vaccines to every child in the country (55%) who might not afford them.  From W.H.O.:

Key point

Risk/benefit assessments should be applied to most situations relating to the efficacy or safety of vaccines to ensure public safety and public health.