Anti-vaxx parents in Mississippi are waging a full out war using social media to push state lawmakers to pass a bill that would eliminate the state health department from reviewing vaccine exemptions given to schoolchildren.
According to the Clarion-Ledger, the Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights organization is orchestrating a campaign to fill up state lawmakers email boxes and flood their offices with phone calls to pass a bill that would loosen the process for inoculation exemptions.
Mississippi is currently only one of three states that do not allow vaccine exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons.
House Bill 938, which passed the House and now awaits Senate approval, would not sanction those exemptions, but it would take the Mississippi Department of Health out of the equation.
Currently the health department must approve all exemptions granted by physicians.
Parents who oppose childhood immunizations -- contrary to all studies showing their effectiveness -- say they don't want government bureaucrats telling them what to do.
However state health officials oppose the bill, saying it will create an increased public health threat and that there are already laws in place to exempt children with valid medical reasons.
In the meantime, lawmakers are being inundated with calls to pass the bill, with one Democrat slapping back at the heavy-handed attempts to bully her.
Posting a message she received form anti-vaxx parent, Sen. Sally Doty (R) responded on Facebook, writing: "My phone and email are jammed up with messages from people statewide on all sorts of issues. I try to weed through and give my attention first to my constituents, but if I miss you - that is why. Thought I would post an example of an ineffective message to a legislator 😜"
