NY Legislation – Will They Lock Up the Unvaccinated?

By Dani Lasher, Vaxxter Contributor

New York is at it again. The legislature introduced Senate Bill A99 in January 2019; it is an active bill, still in committee. The bill was introduced as “An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the removal of cases, contacts, and carriers of communicable diseases who are potentially dangerous to the public health.” If passed into law, the bill would allow the government to detain and quarantine individuals deemed to be a threat to state and local health, which begs the question: Who determines an actual threat? And who really are the actual threats? 

Rockland County officials banned unvaccinated individuals from entering public spaces over the summer and issued a follow-up emergency order to mandate the MMR vaccine for specific Brooklyn zip codes. The state seems intent on segregating the unvaccinated from the vaccinated.

The CDC defines an outbreak as three or more confirmed measles cases in a given catchment area of 100,000 people. At least two of the cases must be laboratory-confirmed, with a positive IgM antibody, showing the infection is acute in nature. Under SB A99, the unvaccinated could be detained and quarantined during an outbreak even if they are not infected. Westchester County in New York State passed a similar bill in September 2019, that allows authorities to use these methods against local citizens with no outbreak or case of infection identified. 

A Lack of Transparency

Here is a section from the SB A99 bill:

“Upon determining by clear and convincing evidence that the health of others is or may be endangered by a case, contact or carrier, or a suspected case, contact or carrier of a contagious disease that, in the opinion of the Governor, after consultation with the commissioner, may pose an imminent and significant threat to the public health resulting in severe morbidity or high mortality, the Governor or his or her delegee, including, but not limited to the commissioner or the heads of local health departments, may order the removal and/or detention of such a person or group of persons by issuing a single order, identifying such persons either by name or by a reasonably specific description of the individuals or group being detained. Such person or group of persons shall be detained in a medical facility or other appropriate facility or premises designated by the Governor or his or her delegee to comply with subdivision five of this section.”

The bill references severe morbidity, but the evidence may not support that concern, judging from this year’s measles outbreaks. From September 30, 2018, through August, 2019, 1,114 New Yorkers contracted measles across a population of 19,542,209, which equates to a 0.01% prevalence rate. The outbreaks were concentrated in specific areas:

• New York City had 649 reported cases among 8,398,748 residents — a 0.01% prevalence rate.
• Brooklyn had 654 cases across 2,582,830 residents — a 0.03% prevalence rate.
• Americans should question whether these rates constitute enough morbidity to justify the legislation. 

SB A99 would also allow authorities to detain people believed to pose an “imminent and significant” threat to public health as a health emergency. None of the 1,250 cases of measles in the U.S. in 2019 involved a deadly condition leading to high mortality. Is a temporary measles infection, which leads to lifelong immunity and even protection against cancer and heart disease, an emergency?

A Leukemia Research study reports that childhood measles infection can lead to protection against non-Hodgkin lymphoma as an adult. New York’s 919 cases of measles this year pales in comparison to the illnesses that arise in the absence of experiencing a measles infection. Lymphoma is expected to cause 20,970 deaths this year — resulting in a mortatality rate of 12.3% for Hodgkin and 26.9% for non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

Atherosclerosis reports childhood measles and mumps exposure lowers the risk of death from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and claimed 840,768 American lives in 2016. America may be in a state of health emergency, but not from low rates of vaccine-preventable illnesses.

Journalists, physicians, and legislators seldom, if ever, reference this type of research. Instead, they cherry-pick studies and stats that support the narrative to push vaccination. A nation claiming to support equality must demand fair statistics. Americans must insist that legislators consider the possible long-term consequences of not allowing children to experience a measles infection and a fever when attempting to pass sweeping vaccine legislation.

If SB A99 is passed, the government will be given the power to decide where, how and how long a detainee is quarantined. The detainee will have no say. The legislation states persons could be detained until “public health officials” are satisfied that the detainee is no longer thought to be contagious. How in the world is that endpoint determined?

The bill’s generalized language also implies that officials could choose to vaccinate the detainee prior to being released. Would this be forced medical treatment in the United States of America?

Who Are the Real Threats to Public Health?

The government overlooks those who are not classically infected but can shed pathogens after being vaccinated.

For example, a study in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics reported that 17 percent of healthy siblings contracted chickenpox via horizontal transmission from their varicella-vaccinated siblings, meaning, the vaccinated child shed the attenuated chickenpox virus, causing illness in their sibling. We are told children must be vaccinated to protect immunocompromised individuals, such as someone receiving chemotherapy. But does vaccinating, particularly with a live-virus vaccine, put the ill child or adult at more risk of actually becoming ill with the infection?

Government officials blamed the unvaccinated for an outbreak of chickenpox in 2018. Similar to measles, protective factors that arise after a chickenpox infection are rarely discussed. For instance, a 2016 study published in Cancer Medicine reports that individuals who contract natural chickenpox had a 21% reduced risk of glioma (brain) tumors.

The shingles vaccine, another live-virus vaccine, is also concerning. A study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases on the Zostavax vaccine reported, 

“In some immunized individuals over age 60, vaccine virus DNA is shed in saliva up to 4 weeks.”

For the full story on Zostavax, Merck’s shingles vaccine, go here.

Adults are often vaccinated with the Tdap vaccine, believing it will protect them and their loved ones from pertussis, commonly referred to as whooping cough. But the acellular Tdap vaccine actually puts those who are most vulnerable to experiencing a severe pertussis infection – the very young and the very old – at greatest risk. A study published by The National Academy of Sciences often referred to as “the baboon study,” explains in detail the risk a vaccinated individual poses in spreading whooping cough due to colonization of bacteria in their trachea. A vaccinated person can spread pertussis for at least 5 weeks after they have been vaccinated.

Should the state detain and quarantine everyone vaccinated with an acellular pertussis vaccine because they could be “able to become contagious,” (in the bill’s words) because they could be a “silent carrier”? Do we need to assure the public that the vaccinated are not causing wide-spread infection?

Recall that the DTaP is not only give to children at 2, 4, 6 and 15 months, with a fifth dose given between 4 and 6 years of age. Tdap is given to teenagers, pregnant women and grandparents. Will we be quarantining everyone in New York who has had one of these vaccines, because they are certainly a public health risk group.

New York’s Bottom Line

Who will pay for detainment and quarantine services? As with almost all vaccination bills, there is no mention of projected costs for this bill; nor were there any projected costs for implementation listed in the 2015 or 2017 versions of a similar bill. If detainees are housed in medical facilities, will insurance cover any of it? If so, what would the 9.4% of New Yorkers without health insurance do? 

SB A99 allows for detained citizens to be held for up to sixty days without a court order. How will the missed time from work impact those individuals? More broadly, how will capturing and retaining these individuals affect the state’s economy when the detainee’s bills go unpaid?  There are so many vagaries about this bill, but that’s how it goes with vaccine bills: pass the bill today, worry about the mess it caused later.

Forced medical testing. Involuntary detention. Compulsory treatments that could perhaps include forced vaccination. New York is at the epicenter of vaccination legislation that may soon sweep other states. Americans must be aware and resist. Join a local group. Get involved with your state legislators BEFORE a bill is introduced and BEFORE it is voted out of committee. Make your voice heard.

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Dani Lasher is a writer, motherhood coach, and health advocate living just outside of Washington, DC. While passionate about informed consent and women’s birthing choices, she’s also slightly obsessed with city living and cooking. You can catch up with Dani at her site, BumpMama.