Legislation sponsored by Republicans that is advancing through the Tennessee legislature would strip parents of their consent relative to their children receiving vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), a parental rights group said in a recent call to action.
Two bills with placeholder language, known as “caption” bills, caught the attention of Stand for Health Freedom (SHF), a nonprofit launched in 2019 that is dedicated to protecting basic human, constitutional and parental rights, according to the organization’s website.
HB0946 and companion SB0148 filed in the 2021 legislative session by State Representative Bob Ramsey (R-Maryville) and Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), respectively, expands the authorization of health care officers and providers to examine, diagnose, and treat minors infected with STDs without the knowledge or consent of the parents to include preventive services as well.
SHF said that the language of the bill “is broad enough to include the controversial HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine, HepB vaccines, and two risky drugs approved for adolescents and adults to be taken to prevent HIV.”
The SB0148 amendment that makes the bill was unanimously passed by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on March 23 with a bipartisan 9 to 0 vote by State Senators Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City), Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin), Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), Ed Jackson (R-Jackson), Becky Massey (R-Knoxville), Art Swann (R-Maryville), Bo Watson (R-Hixson), and Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville).
Briggs, in his pitch for SB0148 to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said that the state has a longstanding policy in law that when a minor consults with a health care provider, they may examine, diagnose and treat the minor infected with venereal diseases without parental consent.
Downplaying the impact of his proposed measure, Briggs said his bill adds eight words to the current law. Those additional words, which actually total 13, are significant in their effect by adding “or provide consultation, examination, diagnosis, or treatment to a minor to prevent STDs.”
Briggs also implied the notion that licensed health practitioners would be promoting abstinence as a method for the prevention of STDs, which he says can’t be done under the current law.
HB2032 and SB2026 also by Ramsey in the House and State Sen. Bill Powers (R-Clarksville), respectively, adds the HPV vaccine to the COVID-19 vaccines that dentists are already authorized to administer under current state law.
Ramsey, himself a dentist, presented both of his bills to the House Health Subcommittee that he chairs on the very same day that State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) was “cancelled” by Republicans on her “Parent Bill of Rights Act,” The Tennessee Star reported.
Weaver, whose bill got a motion from State Rep. David Byrd (R-Waynesboro), but did not get a second so that she could present the bill, told The Star that the fact that her district’s voice was silenced by the “feckless men” on the subcommittee is “egregious, unconscionable and unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, both of Ramsey’s bills got a motion, a second and, by voice vote, appeared to pass unanimously out of the subcommittee without any questions or discussion.
According to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) information on the HPV vaccine’s prevention of cancer, of the 13 million people, including teens, who get an HPV infection each year, about 36,000 per year develop cancer caused by HPV. HPV vaccines, the CDC claims, could prevent more than 90 percent of the cancers from developing.
However, that very same CDC data reveals that of the 13 million people that get HPV infections every year, 99.72 percent of them don’t develop cancer.
Information from the nonprofit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) independent clearinghouse for information on diseases, vaccine science, policy law and the ethical principle of informed consent discusses the history of HPV vaccine use in America.
The heavily-linked article reports that Gardasil, manufactured by Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corp., was granted Fast Track approval by the FDA to become the first FDA-approved HPV vaccine. Along with a number of concerning issues surrounding the safety of HPV vaccines, the article states that the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends the HPV vaccines for children as young as 9 years of age.
Merck was criticized for their role in HPV vaccination policy making, and appears to keep pushing HPV vaccination approval for a broader audience due to low uptake of their vaccine. Meanwhile, Blue Cross Blue Shield found in a 2018 report that more than half of parents – 52 percent – do not intend to give their child the HPV vaccine.
The proposed legislation by Ramsey and Briggs would apparently work around the concerns of parents, by allowing healthcare practitioners and dentists to give the HPV vaccine directly to their minor children without the parents’ consent.
“Merck has been pushing for years to expand uptake of their controversial vaccine, Gardasil, by driving legislation to allow dentists to administer,” says SHF.
“Gardasil sales increased 44 percent to $5.7 billion in 2021, but Merck is facing 14 lawsuits outside of their liability-protection umbrella, accused of fraud and hiding serious risks of their product. Prior to the Covid-19 shots, Gardasil held the dubious distinction of having more reports of serious adverse reactions than any other vaccine,” according to SHF.
A search of Tennessee’s online campaign finance reporting indicates Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corp. contributed $1,250 to Ramsey on August 19, 2021, and $1,250 to Briggs on August 21, 2021 and another $1,000 previous to that for an aggregate amount of $2,250 contributed to Briggs from Merck in 2021.
HB0946 and HB2032 are on the calendar to be heard in the full House Health Committee on Wednesday, March 30.
SB0148 and SB2026 have been referred to the Senate Calendar Committee to be scheduled for a floor vote.
Stand for Health Freedom has an action page for Tennesseans to be able to contact legislators to tell them how these bills will affect the state’s families, which can be found here.
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Laura Baigert is a senior reporter at The Star News Network, where she covers stories for The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News.
Photo “Bob Ramsey” by Tennessee General Assembly and photo “Richard Briggs” by Tennessee General Assembly.
