This post is for parents in my own home state of Michigan, where the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is unlawfully imposing extra-statutory requirements on parents who do not vaccinate their children according to the CDC’s routine childhood schedule.
The state has effectively deputized public schools to enforce an MDHHS administrative rule that directly conflicts with Michigan law, and this is being used to unlawfully deny children a public education.
The wonderful organization Michigan for Vaccine Choice (MVC) has an action you can take to tell MDHHS and the executive branch of the state government that it is not above the law!
I’ve been coordinating my own efforts with MVC after our own son was unlawfully denied enrollment despite our having fulfilled the requirements of Michigan law for him to receive a public education.
To learn more about this issue, see my article “How Michigan Schools Unlawfully Deny Enrollment of Unvaccinated Children“. Here is an excerpt summarizing key points:
Throughout the state of Michigan, parents are being told by school administrators that if they wish to enroll a child who is not vaccinated according to CDC’s schedule, they are required to go through a local health department to attend an “education” session and obtain a certified “Immunization Waiver Form”.
The ostensibly mandatory “education”, however, is not aimed at empowering parents to make an informed choice. Instead, the transparent aim is to intimidate and humiliate dissenting parents into compliance. This is evident by the fact that the “education” session tells parents about the supposed benefits but not the risks of vaccination. It also tries to scare parents about the risks of the target disease but not the benefits of acquiring superior natural immunity.
The waiver form that parents are told to sign requires them to acknowledge that they are placing their own child and others at risk. In essence, it prejudicially requires parents to admit to making an irresponsible choice. Parents who choose to fully vaccinate their children, by contrast, are not required to sign a form acknowledging the risks of vaccination or the opportunity cost of natural immunity.
The “education” session and “waiver” requirement, therefore, are absolutely prejudicial to parents’ right to make their own informed choices about matters related to their own children’s health.
Bureaucrats in state capitals or Washington, DC, have none of the knowledge required to be able to conduct a meaningful risk-benefit analysis on behalf of any individuals.
The good news for Michigan parents is that the ostensible “education” session and “waiver” form admission of irresponsibility are not actual requirements of Michigan law.
In fact, under the law, parents may exempt their child from the vaccination requirements by presenting a written exemption statement expressing a religious or other objection.
The belief that a “waiver” must be obtained from the health department is not derived from Michigan law but from an administrative rule from the state’s department of health and human services (MDHHS).
MDHHS, of course, is an executive agency with no lawmaking authority. It cannot impose requirements on parents beyond those contained in statutory law. Nor does it have authority to effectively deputize schools to enforce its extra-statutory requirements.
Nevertheless, parents throughout the state are being told that their written exemption statements cannot be accepted and that they must go through the health department to obtain a “proper” exemption.
School administrators are thus brazenly violating Michigan law and imposing extra-legal and discriminatory requirements on parents for their children to receive a public education.
Take action by joining MVC in this worthy effort to revoke the MDHHS administrative rule!
And read the full article, including my legal memorandum detailing how public schools are violating Michigan law by imposing extra-statutory requirements on parents at the behest of MDHHS:
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