Title 35, Chapter 4, Article 1: Communicable Diseases shows some of
Wyoming's laws concerning forced medical treatment, vaccination, and
quarantine. Please see
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/titles/title35/c04a01.htm. Those laws
reflect the bill SF 11 that is discussed below.
Wyoming passed SF 11 one year ago, in the winter of 2003. If, after
reading the article below, you would like to see information about that
legislation, and Wyoming Vaccine Information Network's mostly unsuccessful
efforts to amend it, please contact Susan Pearce at spearce@vcn.com.
The following article appeared in the Winter/Spring 2003 issue of The
VacLib Letter.
Wyoming legislature passes Senate File 11 (SF 11) that gives health
authorities and governor more powers
by Susan Pearce
Despite their appreciation of Wyoming Vaccine Information Network's (WVIN's)
contributions and factual presentations, the majority of Wyoming's lawmakers
chose to reject the suggested changes that would have ensured Wyoming
citizens' freedom of choice in the areas of unquestionably hazardous
vaccination, medical treatment, and quarantine.
Representative Bob Brechtel, of Casper, is to be commended for his untiring
efforts to work WVIN's and other amendments into the bill. He was
successful in having one amendment inserted, which was NOT one of the ones
submitted by WVIN. The amendment he proposed, that was accepted, was one in
which parents would be allowed to remain with quarantined children.
Other undesirable sections of SF 11, however, allow the state health officer
to quarantine unvaccinated people in a government designated facility. For
many, this sounds too much like a concentration camp.
In the event of an "emergency", Wyoming citizens will not be able to rely
upon the right to obtain religious exemptions for their children that they
do have under normal conditions. Because of SF 11 and previously passed
laws, people may not be allowed to prevent unquestionably hazardous
materials (that have VERY questionable positive attributes) from being
injected into or forced upon their children. This also applies to any
incompetent person for whom a person is responsible. The people in
authority can decide that the child or incompetent person needs the vaccine
and that the parent or guardian has no say.
Wyoming already has State Statute "35-4-106 -- Vaccination for smallpox;
penalty for refusal". This law has probably been "on the books" for about
100 years. It says, "The state department of health may adopt such measures
for the general vaccination of the inhabitants of any city, town or county
in the state, as they shall deem proper and necessary to prevent the
introduction or arrest the progress of smallpox; and every person who shall
refuse to be vaccinated, or prevent any person under his care and control
from being vaccinated, or who shall fail to present himself or herself to
the county health officer or a practicing physician acting under the
direction of the department or county health officer, for the purpose of
being vaccinated, if such physician believes vaccination necessary, shall
upon conviction be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or less
than ten dollars ($10.00) or imprisoned in the county jail not more than
thirty (30) days."
It should be remembered that this archaic statute was written before it was
well-known and documented by many in the medical community that smallpox
vaccinations had little or nothing to do with the prevention of the disease.
Medical treatment that is provided by mainstream medicine is not acceptable
to many who prefer alternative treatments. It could be very difficult for
people to protect their dependents from the kind of treatment that they feel
is harmful.
Given the new SF11 anti-terrorism bill that has passed in Wyoming's
legislature, and the above statute that has existed for many decades, as
well as the stacks of medically documented information that have been
withheld from the public (in lieu of information that would only benefit the
pharmaceutical companies and their associates), all of us in Wyoming need to
contact our local health departments to ask that their policy reflect the
rights to freedom of choice in vaccination, medical treatment, and
quarantine location. You also need to discuss this issue with those at the
Wyoming Department of Health at 307-777-6340. Several of the state health
officials have indicated that they are very reasonable, but we absolutely
must let them know how we feel about this. Prayer for wisdom, divine
intervention, and our personal conscientious involvement is our only hope in
our efforts to influence public health policy.
It is up to each one of us to alert our communities and get involved in
order to avert the loss of countless lives through this impending public
health disaster.