Albany legislators refuse to meet with vaccine rights advocates

PRESS RELEASE

Get Bus Tickets to this May 16th Rally in Albany HERE

5-4-22

A coalition of dozens of organizations working on vaccine rights and safety issues from around New York is hoping to hold a lobbying day in Albany on May 16 to discuss their concerns with lawmakers, but unlike most advocates, this group won’t be allowed into either the Capitol or the Legislative Office Buildings if current Covid rules are still in effect.

Since early January only people who have proof of Covid vaccination or a negative PCR test less than 48 hours old are admitted to the Capitol or the Legislative Office Building. The rules were put in place in direct response to over 4,000 vaccine rights advocates showing up in Albany on January 5, the first day of the legislative session (pictured above)

Now that Broadway dropped their vaccination requirements, these are the only non-medical buildings left in New York that require a vaccine passport or a negative test document.

“New York is open again. Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are packed. So are Madison Square Garden, KeyBank Center, and Barclay’s Arena. Restaurants are open. Cinemas are open. Schools and business are open.” Said Michael Kane, a leader of Teachers for Choice, a group of New York City educators fired for refusing  the Covid injection. “But our legislators won’t meet with the public? This doesn’t make any sense.”

Advocates are arranging to meet State Senators and Assemblymembers outdoors or in the coffee shop in the Empire Plaza Concourse just outside the security check for the Capitol and the Legislative Office Building.

The advocates are concerned about a whole slate of bills that create new mandates, take away medical privacy rights, and allow vaccines to be give to children with parental knowledge or consent. Including:  

·         A8378 (Dinowitz), Mandatory Covid shots for K-12 students,

·         S75a (Hoylman)/ A279a (Gottfried) All adult vaccine records must be given to the state,

·         A8398, (Dinowitz), Eliminates religious exemptions from vaccine mandates for work and school,

·         S6541 (Rivera)/A7326 (Gottfried), Creates an “immunization passport,” pretends to protect the privacy of vaccination records in the state database by denying access to federal immigration enforcement authorities,

·         S6495 (Hoylman)/ A7829 (Dinowitz) Mandatory Covid shots for college students,

·         S937 (Krueger)/ A822 (Paulin) Allows giving drugs and vaccines for STDs to children of without parental knowledge or consent. No statutory lower age limit.

Returning workers fired for refusing the Covid shot to employment with back pay, and repealing a recent regulation that allows the Governor to arrest and detain for an indefinite period anyone suspected of having a communicable disease are also goals of the advocates.

“Pharma won’t stop with their vaccine push, but we won’t stop pushing back. They have money at stake—we have our lives” said Rita Palma, Legislative Director with Children’s Health Defense NY.  “And we now have the edge in the rational conversation on informed consent, even if the chicken reps in New York don’t want to talk about it.

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*for more information contact John Gilmore

(516) 382-0081