Call Today: Stop Mass Suspension in NY

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Call Today: Stop Mass Suspension in NY

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100+ Threatened for Tdap Booster

New York School District Plans Mass Suspensions to Enforce Newly Required Vaccine

Please call today to stop the threatened mass suspensions of middle-school students in Bellport, NY to force the use of the Glaxo Boostrix and Sanofi Aventis Adacel diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (Tdap) booster shots.The South Country Central School District has announced that middle school students who have not received a newly required Tdap booster will be suspended on January 8. Suffolk County will have a mobile unit at the school on Monday, January 7 to inject students. A Suffolk County Health Department official confirmed this morning that 104 students could be suspended. As of September, 2007 middle-school students in NY are required to have a Tdap booster, in addition to the four shots already required to enroll in kindergarten.

The district's action is part of a growing trend to use draconian measures to enforce vaccine regulations in lower-income and minority school districts. South Country School District is approximately half minority students and has one of the highest poverty rates of any school district in Suffolk County. Last month parents in largely African-American Prince 's County, land were threatened with arrest if they could not produce documents to verify that their children had received all required vaccines. Last year parents were arrested by police in Washington, DC based on the claims of school districts that vaccine records were not up-to-date.

In 2006 New York became the first state to require the Tdap. There have been no reported cases of tetanus or diphtheria in New York for at least ten years according to State Department of Health records yet tetanus and diphtheria boosters are required as well. According to the Suffolk County Department of Health 62 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) were reported in 2004 (the most recent year available) but does not keep records on the ages of people who have contracted pertussis.

According to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System more then 1,400 adverse events from Tdap have been reported including 71 that were classified as serious. Actual adverse events are estimated to be 10 to 100 times greater than reported according to Kessler, MD, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration under Presidents H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

In the two election cycles (2004, 2006) preceding the decision to add the Tdap booster to the mandatory schedule Glaxo and Sanofi Aventis contributed $289,517 to candidates in state elections in New York.

Please call the following decision makers today and ask them firmly but politely to reconsider mass suspensions as a method to maximize vaccine use.

Suffolk County Supervisor Steve Levy, (631) 853-4000

State Senator Caesar Trunzo, (631) 360-3236Assemblymember Eddington (631) 207-0073

County Legislator Jack Eddington, (631) 854-1400

Dr. A. Agruso, Superintendent of Schools, (631) 730-1510, sagruso@...Gregory C. Miglino, Jr. School Board President, (631) 286-4718 bhac54330@...

Carl Moodt, School Board Vice President, (631) 286-9009, moodt@... Joe Cipp, School Boardmember, (631) 803-265, jlcipp@...Toni Huffine, School Boardmember, (631) 803-0362, zum12@...

Jankowski, School Boardmember, (631) 803-2772, jjmm2002@...

M. Kirk, School Boardmember, (631) 286-2074, kmjkirk@...n McKenna, School Boardmember, (631) 286-0643, marian.mckenna@...

Barbara Schatzman, School Boardmember, (631) 286-2924, bgs527@... Vaughan, School Boardmember, (631) 286-6335, arkybellport@...

[Guest guest]

Call Today: Stop Mass Suspension in NY

More Info

100+ Threatened for Tdap Booster

New York School District Plans Mass Suspensions to Enforce Newly Required Vaccine

Please call today to stop the threatened mass suspensions of middle-school students in Bellport, NY to force the use of the Glaxo Boostrix and Sanofi Aventis Adacel diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (Tdap) booster shots.The South Country Central School District has announced that middle school students who have not received a newly required Tdap booster will be suspended on January 8. Suffolk County will have a mobile unit at the school on Monday, January 7 to inject students. A Suffolk County Health Department official confirmed this morning that 104 students could be suspended. As of September, 2007 middle-school students in NY are required to have a Tdap booster, in addition to the four shots already required to enroll in kindergarten.

The district's action is part of a growing trend to use draconian measures to enforce vaccine regulations in lower-income and minority school districts. South Country School District is approximately half minority students and has one of the highest poverty rates of any school district in Suffolk County. Last month parents in largely African-American Prince 's County, land were threatened with arrest if they could not produce documents to verify that their children had received all required vaccines. Last year parents were arrested by police in Washington, DC based on the claims of school districts that vaccine records were not up-to-date.

In 2006 New York became the first state to require the Tdap. There have been no reported cases of tetanus or diphtheria in New York for at least ten years according to State Department of Health records yet tetanus and diphtheria boosters are required as well. According to the Suffolk County Department of Health 62 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) were reported in 2004 (the most recent year available) but does not keep records on the ages of people who have contracted pertussis.

According to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System more then 1,400 adverse events from Tdap have been reported including 71 that were classified as serious. Actual adverse events are estimated to be 10 to 100 times greater than reported according to Kessler, MD, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration under Presidents H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

In the two election cycles (2004, 2006) preceding the decision to add the Tdap booster to the mandatory schedule Glaxo and Sanofi Aventis contributed $289,517 to candidates in state elections in New York.

Please call the following decision makers today and ask them firmly but politely to reconsider mass suspensions as a method to maximize vaccine use.

Suffolk County Supervisor Steve Levy, (631) 853-4000

State Senator Caesar Trunzo, (631) 360-3236Assemblymember Eddington (631) 207-0073

County Legislator Jack Eddington, (631) 854-1400

Dr. A. Agruso, Superintendent of Schools, (631) 730-1510, sagruso@...Gregory C. Miglino, Jr. School Board President, (631) 286-4718 bhac54330@...

Carl Moodt, School Board Vice President, (631) 286-9009, moodt@... Joe Cipp, School Boardmember, (631) 803-265, jlcipp@...Toni Huffine, School Boardmember, (631) 803-0362, zum12@...

Jankowski, School Boardmember, (631) 803-2772, jjmm2002@...

M. Kirk, School Boardmember, (631) 286-2074, kmjkirk@...n McKenna, School Boardmember, (631) 286-0643, marian.mckenna@...

Barbara Schatzman, School Boardmember, (631) 286-2924, bgs527@... Vaughan, School Boardmember, (631) 286-6335, arkybellport@...