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Today in Anti-Vaxxer Contradictions: Coalition for Informed Consent Opposes Providing Parents Information

Today in Anti-Vaxxer Contradictions: Coalition for Informed Consent Opposes Providing Parents Information

Last updated on: May 2, 2018 at 8:29 am by Libby Anne

Today in Anti-Vaxxer Contradictions: Coalition for Informed Consent Opposes Providing Parents Information 2018-05-02T08:29:30-04:00 Libby Anne

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At least one website is making much of a state senator in Illinois citing an anti-vaccine group in opposition to a bill in that state, but I’m far more interested in a bizarre contradiction than I am in the citing of anti-vaxxers (something I guess I thought was common among politicians on the Right). Do you see the contradiction?

Text of tweet:

Sen. Sam McCann speaks in opposition to Sen Mattie Hunter on her SB2654, which would add flu outbreak info to existing school webpages.

McCann says IL Coalition for Informed Consent is against.

Passes 40-12.

Do you see the contradiction? The IL Coalition for Informed Consent (an anti-vaccine group) opposed a bill that would add information about flu outbreaks, and other information about vaccines, to school webpages. Shouldn’t an organization promoting “informed consent” be in favor of parents having access to information pertinent to their children’s health and wellbeing?

I looked up the bill. Here is the summary:

Amends the School Code. Requires the school board of a school district to include information about influenza and influenza vaccinations in accordance with the latest recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it provides information on immunizations, infectious diseases, medications, or other school health issues to the parents or guardians of students.

As far as I can tell from the bill text, this is what the bill would add to the code:

(8.5) The school board of a school district shall include information about influenza and influenza vaccinations in accordance with the latest recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it provides information on immunizations, infectious diseases, medications, or other school health issues to the parents or guardians of students.

In other words, all this bill would do is require that information about influenza and the flue vaccine be included with the vaccine information schools already provide to parents. That’s it—it’s about making sure that parents get flu vaccine information.

The IL Coalition for Informed Consent opposes schools giving parents information about influenza and the flu vaccine.

Information*. The horrors*.

This made me curious. What was the Coalition’s justification for opposing IL SB 2654? So I looked up their explanation.

VOTE NO on SB 2654 because it amends the School Code to require schools to push flu vaccine information on families. The flu vaccine is not required in Illinois. Schools should not be in the business of marketing vaccines.

This is fascinating. They’re opposed to giving parents additional information because they claim giving parents information is the constitutes “pushing” the flu vaccine. The combination of this argument—that giving parents additional information is bad and constitutes “pushing”—with the organization’s name—the IL Coalition for Informed Consent—is breathtaking in its twistedness.

If you had asked me to to guess, I would have said that the organization probably opposed the bill because they think the latest information from the CDC (which is what would be provided) is biased or wrong. But as it turns out, that is not in fact what they are arguing. In fact, have a look at this, from their explanation for opposing IL SB 2654:

Information regarding flu and the flu vaccine is widely available from both the state and federal government. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) already has a very detailed flu and flu vaccine page with dozens of free resource links and printable materials from the State Health Department, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC.)

In other words, the group’s page on the bill references the CDC, the exact agency that would provide information to school districts in IL for distribution to students, as a legitimate source of information. Their claim is not that this information is incorrect. Their claim is that the information the CDC provides is already “widely available” to parents, and that parents therefore do not need to be provided with this information through their children’s school as well.

They’re claiming that this would be too much information.

They repeat the claim that parents already have this information in plenty of forms and from plenty of locations throughout their page. Have a look:

SB 2654 is completely unnecessary because Illinois State law … already requires children in kindergarten, 6th and 9th grades to have a physical examination before school entry where doctors educate parents of school aged children on vaccines and diseases.

Okay … but what about during the other grades?

Information and incentives regarding flu and flu vaccine are readily available in commercial settings everywhere at doctors’ offices, grocery stores and pharmacies that give vaccines.

Really? That’s their argument? Parents already have enough information, they don’t need more. More information constitutes pushing. Access to information is easy enough already! You don’t need more! You can go to the CDC website! And when you take your kids to their physicals the doctor will tell you about flu vaccines! And there are things posted at pharmacies about it!

How dare lawmakers want schools to make sure families have information about the flu vaccine! Information bad!

Cool.

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