A friend forwarded me this Boston Herald article regarding a bill recently passed by the Massachusetts Senate in preparation for a possible swine flu pandemic.  It caused me grave concerns, and I forward the link to you in hopes that you will check it out and then do your best to prevent Vermont from following a similarly extreme and, in my opinion, ill-advised course. http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1168745

As I read this article, all I could think of was the rapid passage of the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act in the wake of 9/11.  Legislators and average Americans were convinced by fear to give up some of our most fundamental human rights, rights for which our ancestors fought and died.   Though the sense of imminent emergency has long since passed, we have not repealed these terrible bills or restored those rights.  This is a pattern that can be observed throughout history: once rights are relinquished, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get them back.

I am specifically concerned about the provisions of the Mass. bill which allow authorities to enter homes, prohibit free assembly, and require health care providers to participate in vaccination campaigns. 

There has been a significant increase in activism in the months since the economic collapse began.  I think it is reasonable to expect more, and more intense, activism in the months to come as people realize that despite all the hopeful rhetoric, we are not going to swiftly return to "business as usual."  I think it is reasonable to expect that as the so-called recession persists and average folks realize that they are continuing to get poorer while the rich continue to get richer, public anger will mount.  It could be a very volatile summer.  If I can see that, I'm sure government and law enforcement officials can, too.  I have real concerns that legislation like that just passed in Mass. could be used to curtail the ability of citizens to communicate, organize, and protest. 

There are good reasons to be concerned about the efficacy and safety of vaccines in general, and vaccines against flu viruses in particular.  On the other hand, pharmaceutical companies stand to make millions by rushing a vaccine to market quickly in the face of public panic about a pandemic.  The body count of those harmed or killed by the vaccine itself may be reckoned only much later, if at all.  In the meantime, if we pass legislation similar to Massachusetts', the right of health care providers to make their own evaluations of the efficacy and safety of vaccines and to exercise their right to practice as they see fit will be sacrificed.  We currently recognize the right of a minority of anti-abortion physicians and hospitals to refuse to perform abortions and the right of pharmacists to refuse to dispense the "morning-after pill" or even oral contraceptives--but we're willing to compel the minority of health care providers who might feel concern about the safety and efficacy of a hastily-produced flu vaccine to deliver it?!?  Such a course of action is utterly lacking in moral integrity and courage. 

Fear has always been an effective instrument for manipulating populations and rendering them docile--governments, even supposedly democratic ones, have made liberal and tremendously effective use of this stealth weapon for centuries.  One can quite reasonably argue that the Bush Administration used fear of terrorism to manipulate the American Congress and public into supporting the illegal war on Iraq.  I urge you to keep your critical minds intact at this volatile time.  I urge you to remember that there are plenty of ways to protect public health in the short term without further decimating civil rights for the long term.  I urge you to resist any movement to pass pandemic-prevention legislation similar to Massachusetts' in Vermont.