URGENT: CALLS, EMAILS and TESTIMONY NEEDED TO OPPOSE SB 354
HELP STOP VACCINE TRACKING FOR ALL
Hearing Tuesday 2/19 at 10:00 am

Senator Bill Montford is trying to push through a vaccine bill (SB 354) that will severely limit health freedom in the state of Florida by massively expanding the intrusive Florida SHOTS vaccine tracking system. Manford's bill is a near exact repeat of last year's attempt, which grassroots efforts defeated. It's time to take action again.

[Relased by the Florida National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) Advocacy Team]

Dear Florida NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

We need your help to defeat a terrible bill, SB 354, sponsored by Senator Bill Montford, which massively expands the intrusive Florida SHOTS vaccine tracking system. 

SB 354 needs to be opposed because it:

1)    institutes mandatory reporting by all vaccine administrators rather than leaving it optional [lines 81-88];

2)    expands the registry from a childhood registry into a complete massive adult vaccine tracking registry by

a.     requiring the reporting of adult college and university students aged 19-23 vaccination records or tracking refusal to participate in the registry  [lines 88-96]

b.     allowing for all other adults’ shot records to be submitted [lines 96-100];  and

3)    exposes private vaccination and personal records to collection and abuse by making all the records in the registry “available” to permitted users and deleting current statute which requires the direct transfer from the registry to a user as needed [lines 75-80].

Do not be fooled by anyone claiming children or college students can opt-out of being tracked under this bill.  This is simply not true. Current statute for children [lines 63-65] and the expansion in the bill for college students [lines 73-74] require that “The decision not to participate in the immunization registry must be noted in the registry.”

If SB 354 passes, everyone single person from birth to 23 will be tracked in this intrusive Florida vaccine enforcement and surveillance system either with their vaccination records or marked as a vaccine tracking refuser!  There is no opting out of some kind of tracking in this system.

Equally offensive is that once someone has a vaccine record entered into the state’s vaccine tracking system, they can NEVER get it removed!  Florida SHOTS openly admits on their Frequently Asked Questions “What records are included in Florida SHOTS” that you can never have your records removed from being tracked by the state once they have them.  It says, “Florida is an opt-out state. If a parent chooses to opt out of Florida SHOTS, his or her child’s record will continue to be in the registry, but it will not be accessible to anyone but the child’s current doctor.” 

If SB 354 passes, everybody who has vaccination records entered can never get them out.

We would like to nickname Florida SHOTS the “Hotel California Tracking System”, because you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave! 

While vaccine tracking systems are sometimes used to harass or penalize law abiding citizens who do not get every single vaccine on the CDC recommended schedule, the opposition to this bill is not about whether or not someone wants a vaccine, it is about the right to keep your private records actually private and it is about what is appropriate behavior by a state agency to not trample those rights.

Section 23 of the Florida Constitution, guarantees every resident of Florida the Right of Privacy: “Every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life except as otherwise provided herein.”  Permanent tracking against consent or being labeled by the state in a government database as a vaccine tracking refuser sounds a lot like government intrusion into their private life.

Similar bills failed to pass last session, (CS/CS/HB 1045, CS/CS/HB 1047, CS/CS/SB 1680), and SB 354 this session needs to be OPPOSED too.   

ACTION ITEMS

1) Call the primary sponsor of SB 354, Senator Bill Montford at (850) 487-5003 and ask him to pull his bill down. 

2) Call and email all the members of the Senate Health Policy Committee and ask them to VOTE NO on SB 354. Explain why defeating this bill is important to your family.  If you have a vaccine reaction, harassment or discrimination story, please personalize your emails with this if you can.  You can use the description of the problems with the bill above in your emails. (Emails may be sent by link on Senator’s website)

Chair: Senator Gayle Harrell (R), (850) 487-5025, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S25

Vice Chair: Senator Lori Berman (D), (850) 487-5031, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S31

Senator Dennis Baxley (R), (850) 487-5012, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S12

Senator Aaron Bean (R), (850) 487-5004, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S4

Senator Lauren Book (D), (850) 487-5032, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S32

Senator Janet Cruz (D), (850) 487-5018, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S18

Senator Manny Diaz, Jr. (R), (850) 487-5036, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S36

Senator Ed Hooper (R), (850) 487-5016, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S16

Senator Debbie Mayfield (R), (850) 487-5017, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S17

Senator Darryl Ervin Rouson (D), (850) 487-5019, http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S19

3) Plan on attending the hearing for SB 354 on Tuesday, 2/19/2019, in the Senate Health Policy Committee from 10:00 – 11:30 in the Pat Thomas Committee Room, 412 Knott Building and testifying against the bill.  Wear business attire and please be polite and respectful. 

Senate Health Policy Hearing notice and agenda:

Directions to the Knott Building:

Click HERE for the Florida Senate Appearance Record to be able to speak at the Senate Hearing. 

4) Call or Visit your own Florida Senator and Representative and ask them to OPPOSE SB 354.  Follow up with an email or a fax.   If you do not know who your Florida State Senator or State Representative are, or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “State Teams” tab and then “My State,” and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right hand side of the page http://NVICAdvocacy.org. You can also find your state legislators here:https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find and https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx.

5) Login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates.  http://NVICAdvocacy.org.We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process. 

6) Please forward this email to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well.   

7) Please forward any legislative responses regarding removing or restricting any vaccine exemptions to our Florida State Director Toni at [email protected].

Sincerely,

NVIC Advocacy Team
National Vaccine Information Center
http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx

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