LI Parents Protest State Senator Kevin Thomas Taking Away Basic Rights to Benefit Drug Companies
GARDEN CITY, N.Y., April 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Less than three months into his first term, State Senator Kevin Thomas has co-sponsored three bills that take away fundamental medical, religious and parental rights that New Yorkers have always had. But the bills will primarily benefit drug companies.
Parents have been stymied in efforts to communicate with Thomas. "We have tried for months to get a meeting with our Senator to discuss these complicated issues without success," said John Gilmore, Executive Director of the Autism Action Network. "He co-sponsored all these bills without talking to his voters first."
Thomas recently co-sponsored the following bills. Thomas is the only legislator from Long Island to co-sponsor these bills
Senate Bill S2994 would eliminate the religious exemption from vaccine mandates to attend school for families that have religious beliefs in conflict with some or all vaccines. New York is a diverse and tolerant place, and New Yorkers have had this right ever since mandatory vaccines were created, as do the residents of 46 other states, and most of the developed democracies in the world. Many vaccines are made with pork tissue, beef tissue, aborted human fetus tissue and other ingredients that present moral conflicts. Only one half of one percent of students in NY have religious exemptions. The bill would generate an estimated additional $50 million in vaccine sales the first year and another $2.5 million for following years.
Senate Bill S2276 would require all preschoolers and children in daycare to get annual flu shots. The vast majority of New Yorkers chose not to get the flu shots for themselves or their children. The flu shot is widely recognized to be questionably effective and is readily available at any pharmacy or physician's office. The bill would generate approximately $18 million in flu vaccine sales per year not including administration costs.
Senate Bill 4244, would allow minors of 14 or older to get any vaccine required to attend school without parental knowledge or consent. Minors are not allowed to make medical decisions for themselves for good reasons: most children do not know their own medical history well enough to know if they have a personal or family medical history that would preclude vaccines. There is no language in this bill that prohibits minors from consenting to experimental vaccines and there is nothing that protects minors with intellectual disabilities.
As a first-time candidate, Thomas criticized his opponent former Senator Kemp Hannon, Thomas's predecessor as the State Senator for the 6th District, for Hannon's preferential policies toward drug companies and the donations he received from companies and trade groups who benefited from those policies. "Thomas promised progressive change when he ran just a few months ago," said Rita Palma, legislative director for the NY Alliance for Vaccine Rights, "But we are getting our existing rights take away and the same old crony capitalism."
A protest against Senator Thomas' efforts to take away the religious and parental rights that New Yorkers currently have is scheduled for Friday, April 5, 2019 at 12:00pm at his district offices located at 595 Stewart Avenue, Suite 540, Garden City, NY 11530.
Media & Agent Contact:
Autism Action Network
Phone: 516-382-0081
SOURCE Autism Action Network
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