Friday, December 11, 2009

"... bind them down from mischief... "

A notable quote:
"In questions of power, let us hear no more of trust in men, but rather bind them down from mischief with the chains of the Constitution."

- Thomas Jefferson

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Illegal discrimination in H1N1 swine flu vaccinations / flu shots?

Over at Bob's Newheart I read this:
If you are over age 64 and you want the H1N1 flu vaccine (swine flu) forget it! Even if you meet the criteria set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) you will not be allowed to get the vaccine. I know, today I was refused a shot. This development has great significance for everyone over 64 and especially transplant patients with compromised immune systems.
First of all IF this is indeed, a REGULATION, someone please point me to it by regulation number.

All the material at the two CDC links mentioned in this post and its comments mention that these are RECOMMENDATIONS, e.g..
"the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that CDC and immunization programs focus on getting the first doses of 2009 H1N1 vaccine to those people who are more likely to get infected with the 2009 H1N1 flu virus"
Neither the word "regulation" nor "law" appears anywhere on those two pages!

Besides, any age or other discrimination in the provision of GOVERNMENT services would be a violation of the privileges and immunities clause of the 14th Amendment, right?

This prevents the States from creating different classes of persons and discriminating on that basis.

It was included in the Constitution primarily to prevent racial discrimination, but subsequent court decisions have affirmed that it is pretty much total in its scope.

A great example are the various States' laws that had required seniors to have yearly tests for their drivers licenses while those aged less than seniors had only been required to be tested every two or four years. The courts have struck those laws down.

So I think anyone who stands in line should be legally allowed to have the vaccination if he hasn't already.

I'd humbly accept if anyone would show me I'm wrong.

CLARIFICATION: I should clarify that I'm not just speaking of age discrimination. I think any citizen - even those not in any high-risk group - should be able to get an H1N1 vaccination if the government (State or Federal) is giving them to citizens.


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