By VICTOR SKINNER
THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR
(The Center Square) — Attorneys general in a dozen states are urging the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to reverse course on recommendations to include the COVID-19 vaccine on federal child immunization lists.
“This action could deny many parents the freedom to determine whether to subject their kids to an experimental vaccine,” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said.
The attorneys general penned a letter to the CDC’s ACIP committee Thursday in regards to two votes taken during meetings this week, which occurred before the close of the public comment period on including the COVID-19 vaccine on child immunization lists.
The advisory committee voted 15-0 on Thursday to add COVID-19 vaccines to the 2023 schedule of childhood and adult immunizations and the CDC is expected to accept the recommendation. The committee voted unanimously the day prior to add the vaccine to the Vaccines for Children Program, which was created by Congress to ensure low-income children have access to free vaccines.
“States have traditionally relied heavily on these lists to inform their vaccination policies,” the letter reads. “As a result, in many states, your decision is unnecessary and subjects children to retaliation for their parent or guardian’s decisions to decline this vaccination.”
The letter argues vaccines currently included on the childhood immunization lists protect against viruses that “have killed millions of children over the years,” unlike COVID-19, which “does not pose the same danger to kids as polio or measles, nor does the vaccine provide the same protection.”
“While most vaccines prevent the vaccinated individual from getting the disease in the first place and stop the spread of the disease, the COVID-19 vaccine does neither,” the attorneys general wrote.
Including the COVID-19 vaccine could do more harm than good by undermining the public’s faith in the CDC, they wrote, citing ongoing research into both the virus and vaccines, as well as “widespread disagreement on whether kids need to be vaccinated” as important reasons to wait.
“It’s far too early in the process to potentially require otherwise healthy kids to get a vaccine that will not prevent them or others from getting sick. In fact, the vaccine could do the opposite and create complications for kids who are forced to get the vaccine to attend school or play sports,” the letter reads. “Given the lack of need for kids to obtain the vaccines and their lack of effectiveness, adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of childhood immunizations amounts to little more than a payout to big pharmaceutical companies at the expense of kids and parents.”
The attorneys general pointed to the continued “fallout of school closures and the forced masking of kids” that resulted from the “failures of misguided politicians, government bureaucrats, and their select experts,” and urged the committee to “reject considerations of adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of childhood immunities and the VFC.”
“A modicum of humility is in order from the elites who demanded Americans’ trust then betrayed it with failed policies, and simultaneously ensured that those with the audacity to question the individuals wielding such power over individual lives and livelihoods would be targeted for censorship and blame,” the letter reads.
“Our Nation’s children are not the federal government’s guinea pigs,” the attorneys general wrote. “As a country that failed so many children over the last couple of years, we owe it to them and their parents to take a responsible path forward.”
The letter was signed by attorneys general from Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Montana, Arizona, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Indiana and Texas.
