NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION BACKS OFF RECOMMENDATION TO MANDATE A COVID-19 VACCINE FOR EVERYONE
After the NYSBA’s May 13, 2020 report calling for mandating the COVID-19
vaccine for everyone in the United States as soon as an “effective” vaccine is available, ICAN sent vaccine safety information to all of the NYSBA delegates. ICAN urged them to consider the safety of any such vaccine before voting to recommend the mandate. Shortly thereafter, the NYSBA’s Health Law Section revised the recommendation to include that the vaccine must be supported as “safe and effective” and should first be made widely available and encouraged before being mandated. The NYSBA house of delegates will vote on November 7, 2020 regarding whether to formally adopt this recommendation and ICAN has again reached out to educate NYSBA members regarding a potential COVID-19 vaccine before this vote.
The NYSBA is an association of New York lawyers whose mission includes advocating for state and federal legislation. Early on in the pandemic, the Health Law section of the NYSBA appointed a task force to conduct a review of the legal issues raised by to the Covid-19 pandemic – this included the issue of vaccinations.
On May 13, 2020, that NYSBA task force published a Report of the New York State Bar Association’s Health Law Section Task Force on COVID-19. This report stated that “for the sake of public health, mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 should be required in the United States as soon as it is available” and that “When the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine has been confirmed, enact legislation requiring vaccination of each person unless the person’s physician deems vaccination for his or her patient to be clinically inappropriate.” Meaning, requiring it for everyone as long as it is effective, even if it has not been proven safe! It is also incredible that a committee of thinking individuals would recommend that a law be written to require a non-existent vaccine, once it is confirmed to be effective, be administered to every person in the country, with no mention of safety. No mention of informed consent. ICAN did not stand by silently.
Knowing that the NYSBA was holding a meeting on June 13, 2020 to vote on whether or not to adopt this recommendation, on June 8, 2020, ICAN sent every NYSBA delegate and other NYSBA members an email requesting that they seriously consider safety before voting on any vaccine mandate. ICAN attached to those emails vaccine safety information and its vaccine safety letter exchange with HHS.
On June 12, 2020, days after those fact-filled emails went out, and only one day before the NYSBA meeting, revisions were made to the NYSBA task force report. The recommendation was amended to read: “After testing and as supported by scientific evidence, once a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, the NYSBA Health Law Section recommends: That a vaccine subject to scientific evidence of safety and efficacy be made widely available, and widely encouraged, and if the public health authorities conclude necessary, required, unless a person’s physician deems vaccination to be clinically inappropriate.”ICAN still strongly disagrees with this recommendation but it certainly was an improvement. The next day, the NYSBA held its June 13, 2020 meeting and delayed their vote on the vaccine recommendation, acknowledging that they needed time to review and consider the report and potentially the other materials, including from ICAN, provided to the task force regarding vaccine safety and efficacy.
The full NYSBA House of Delegates is slated to meet on November 7, 2020 to vote as to whether or not the entire NYSBA should adopt the vaccine recommendation in the NYSBA task force report. ICAN took action yet again.
On October 30, 2020, ICAN sent a copy of a lengthy letter from its attorneys to over 275 NYSBA delegates detailing serious concerns regarding a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The information detailed in this letter included:(i) serious concerns with the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials with regard to both safety and efficacy; (ii) conflicts of interest that exist in the “independent” data safety & monitoring boards overseeing the trials for these potential vaccines; (iii) financial conflicts of interest within the National Institutes of Health with regard to these potential vaccines; (iv) the immunity to liability bestowed upon the vaccine manufacturers by the federal government for any injury caused by these potential vaccines; (v) the superior natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 that policymakers have failed to take into account; (vi) the unique issues related to children and SARS-CoV-2; and (vii) the critical need for vaccine exemptions in New York State.
Will the NYSBA members take the time and energy to educate themselves before voting? Will they understand why we must always retain the right to informed consent in this nation? Or will they vote to advocate that legislatures force unwanted, untested, investigational vaccine on all individuals? Stay tuned to hear what happens at the NYSBA’s November 7, 2020 meeting – ICAN will be watching closely. Regardless of the outcome, rest assured that ICAN will never stop in its pursuit of medical freedom.