Every anti-vax bill has died

Lawmakers dropped the final anti-vaccine proposal last week after a bevy of medical and healthcare associations came out to oppose it.

The Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne. // Photo: Ashton Hacke

The final attempt by Wyoming lawmakers to limit the scenarios in which minors may be vaccinated is dead.

House Bill 44 — “Parental rights in minor child’s health care” — would have repealed two provisions currently in state law. It would have taken away a minor’s ability to consent to tobacco cessation treatment without the knowledge of their parents.

It also would have taken away the state health officer’s ability to provide medical treatment or vaccination to a minor, during a public health emergency, without first consulting the minor’s parent. Currently, state law only allows this treatment or vaccination if the parent “cannot be located and consulted.”

HB44 would have forbidden treatment even in cases where the parent could not be found.

“I think the intent (of the state law) is a catastrophic event in which parents are not accessible because they are deceased or are themselves critically ill,” Wyoming State Health Officer Alexia Harrist told lawmakers last week. “And we hope it never happens. But I think that planning for what’s potentially possible, and wanting to know that we can protect kids if we need to, is the purpose.”

The bill initially passed on the House floor with a 52-9 vote. But it ran into problems when it came before the House Labor Committee last week.

At that hearing, Harrist and other medical professionals came out to oppose the bill, arguing it would make it more difficult to help teens quit smoking and more difficult to respond to severe public health emergencies, such as a smallpox attack or ebola outbreak.

Representatives from the Wyoming Medical Society, Wyoming Hospital Association, Wyoming Public Health Association and the Wyoming chapter of the American Cancer Society all spoke against the bill.

Cheyenne Pediatrician Andrew Rose said the bill would “limit access to care” for minors who have started vaping or using other tobacco and nicotine products and now want to stop. Rose said those minors might be less likely to seek help if they know their parents will automatically and immediately find out.

“Minors who are using tobacco typically aren’t sharing that with their parents,” he said. “To then make it harder for them to want to talk with me as a pediatrician who could help them … there’s actually really good data that shows kids will be much less likely to look for that care. So it limits access there for children wanting to get help.”

Rep. Jeanette Ward (HD-57) spoke in favor of the bill on the House floor and defended it again from her seat on the House Labor Committee.

“It’s my understanding, and I believe it should be everyone’s understanding, that parents are the primary stakeholders and caretakers of their children’s health,” she said during the hearing. “And we need to respect the rights of parents and not put roadblocks in front of parents exercising their rights. And there are no public health records, except during abuse, which should be hidden from parents.”

Ultimately, however, the concerns raised by medical professionals won out. House Bill 44 failed in committee on a 4-5 vote. It was nearly recalled from committee anyway by the full House, but failed that recall vote, 30-31.

All five other anti-vaccine bills — including proposals to mark donated blood from vaccinated donors, to repeal the state’s ability to promote smallpox vaccines and to prohibit individuals from requiring masks or other preventive measures in public spaces — were never considered for introduction.