“The freedoms of conscience and of religious exercise are foundational rights protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by Federal statutes. These laws ensure, for example, that Americans are not compelled to speak, to salute the flag, to join a national church, or to vote for a particular candidate. They also ensure that as a general matter, the Federal government may not discriminate against its citizens for the views they hold.”
Among the long list of exemptions in federal law from compulsory health care and services on THE VERY FIRST PAGE is “immunizations.”
On the second page is a quote from United States v. Seeger, a 1965 Supreme Court case.
“[B]oth morals and sound policy require that the State should not violate the conscience of the individual. All our history gives confirmation to the view that liberty of conscience has a moral and social value which makes it worthy of preservation at the hands of the state. So deep in its significance and vital, indeed, is it to the integrity of man’s moral and spiritual nature that nothing short of the self-preservation of the state should warrant its violation; and it may well be questioned whether the state which preserves its life by a settled policy of violation of the conscience of the individual will not in fact ultimately lose it by the process.”
WOW! Now that’s a Supreme Court I can support!
How about this from Trump’s Executive Order of May 8, 2017? Federal law
“protects not just the right to believe or the right to worship; it protects the right to perform or abstain from performing certain physical acts in accordance with one’s beliefs.”
One of the LISTED “Problems that the Proposed Rule Seeks to Address,” is “being required to administer or receive certain vaccinations derived from aborted fetal tissues as a condition of work or receipt of educational services.”READ MORE…
NEW YORK is known to not only deny religious exemptions but to have created a limit on accepting them.
Just call and say…. co-sponsor S6141c or A8123a
FIND Representatives by zip code-NY http://nyassembly.gov/mem/ (A8123a)
Find my Senator by Zip Code–NY https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator (S6141c)
You might also communicate to the Republican leaders of the houses that President Trump has set up a new office at the HHS for religious freedom (in case they haven’t heard) so that Republicans will vote as a unified party on the issue of religious freedom and vaccines. Although the new agency only mentions vaccines as it pertains to religious freedom and medicaid, the head of the Agency, who I understand is a deeply religious acolyte requests that all concerned with being denied religious freedom as it pertains to vaccines, send in a complaint.
Section #9 covers: state or local government agency that is responsible for administering health care • State or local government income assistance or human service agency • Hospital • Medicaid and Medicare provider • Physician or other health care professional in private practice with patients assisted by Medicaid • Family health center • Community mental health center • Alcohol and drug treatment center • Nursing home • Foster care home • Public and private adoption or foster care agency • Day care center • Senior citizen center • Nutrition program • Any entity established under the Affordable Care Act • HMO • Pharmacy • Homeless shelter •Health researcher
Name the health care or social service provider involved, and describe the acts or omissions, you believe violated conscience or religious freedom laws or regulations
File a Conscience or Religious Freedom Complaint Online
Open the OCR Complaint Portal and select the type of complaint you would like to file.
Complete as much information as possible, including:
Information about you, the complainant
Details of the complaint
Any additional information that might help OCR when reviewing your complaint
You will then need to electronically sign the complaint and complete the consent form. After completing the consent form you will be able to print out a copy of your complaint to keep for your records.
File a Conscience or Religious Freedom Complaint in Writing
File a Complaint Using the Conscience or Religious Freedom Complaint Form Package
Print and mail the completed complaint and consent forms to:
Centralized Case Management Operations
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F HHH Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Email the completed complaint and consent forms to OCRMail@hhs.gov (Please note that communication by unencrypted email presents a risk that personally identifiable information contained in such an email, may be intercepted by unauthorized third parties)
File a Complaint without the Conscience or Religious Freedom Complaint Form Package
If you prefer, you may submit a written complaint in your own format by either:
Mail to
Centralized Case Management Operations
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F HHH Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Name, full address and telephone number of the person, agency or organization you believe discriminated against you
A brief description of what happened, including how, why, and when you believe your (or someone else’s) conscience or religious freedom rights were violated
Any other relevant information
Your signature and date of complaint
The name of the person on whose behalf you are filing if you are filing complaint for someone else
You may also include:
Any special accommodations for us to communicate with you about this complaint
Contact information for someone who can help us reach you if we cannot reach you directly
If you have filed your complaint somewhere else and where you’ve filed
If you mail a complaint, be sure to send it to:
Centralized Case Management Operations
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Room 509F HHH Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20201
You do not need to sign the complaint and consent forms when you submit them by email because submission by email represents your signature.
Language assistance services for OCR matters are available and provided free of charge. OCR services are accessible to persons with disabilities.
Filing Complaints with Other Agencies
If you have a complaint about housing, law enforcement, labor, education, or employment discrimination, OCR does not investigate these types of complaints. Find out where to get help
Despite the health benefits that result from implementation of ACIP recommendations, adults continue to be vaccinated at low and variable rates. In contrast, childhood vaccination rates in the United States typically exceed 90 percent. The success of childhood vaccination can be attributed to many factors unique to pediatric vaccination, such as state laws requiring vaccination for school entry and the coordinated public health infrastructure established by the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC), a federally funded program to provide free vaccines to children who are Medicaid eligible,uninsured, underinsured, or American Indian or Alaskan Native.11Another reason for the high rates of vaccination among children is that pediatricians and family physicians, the primary providers of health care and preventive health services for children, have long been committed to making immunization a core part of well-child care. For adults, chronic diseases and screenings for cancer, blood pressure, and cholesterol
have historically been the primary focus of acute medical and preventive health care, respectively.result, vaccinations have been given less emphasis and are underutilized in the adult population. READ HHS DRAFT 52 PAGE STRATEGY
Excerpts from the HHS DRAFT on Adult Vaccination Strategies
Increase community demand for adult immunizations.
Objective 3.1: Educate and encourage individuals to be aware of and receive recommended adult immunizations.
Objective 3.2: Educate, encourage, and motivate health care professionals to recommend and/or deliver adult vaccinations.
Objective 3.3: Educate and encourage other groups (e.g., community and faith-based groups, tribal organizations)to promote the importance of adult immunization.
Foster innovation in adult vaccine development and vaccination-related technologies.
Objective 4.1: Develop new vaccines and improve the effectiveness of existing vaccines for adults.
Objective 4.2: Encourage new technologies to improve the distribution, storage, and delivery of adult vaccines