NY Teachers Against Vaccine Mandates for Educators

Anyone is welcome to sign this petition. If you are a New York Educator or UFT member, even better. Please indicate that in your signature. This petition is not authorized by the UFT, it is being used to lobby them.

In Albany, NY, lawmakers have suddenly gotten very interested in mandating many more vaccines for not only children, but also adults. Reliable sources in Albany have said laws requiring vaccine mandates for educators could be proposed in January of 2020.

As members of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) which is a chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) we firmly stand against any vaccine mandate for any educator in New York State. The vaccine status of teachers has never caused any health problem to any children in the history of our state. Health care decisions are to be made between patients and their doctors. The state has no place intervening in the health care decisions of adults. What works to keep one person healthy may very well make another person sick. That is why vaccination decisions are a very important part of individualized health care; the state has no business mandating a one-size-fits-all health policy for any adult.

We are calling on UFT (and AFT) leadership to stand up for teachers’ rights to make our own decisions with our own doctors when it comes to healthcare. Absolutely no vaccine mandates for New York educators are acceptable! Do not allow anyone in Albany to convince you our healthcare decisions should be placed in their non-medical hands. The UFT does a great job of providing multiple options and choices when it comes to doctors, hospitals and treatments that are available to us as union members. Do not hand over those choices to lawmakers who are making decisions based on Big Pharmaceutical influenced lobbying instead of the health and well-being of constituents, teachers, families and children.

In case you think this petition is alarmist, take a look at all the legislation on mandatory vaccination currently in Albany – all sponsored by Democrats who currently hold the majority:

·         A6487 (Englebright) Requires all healthcare workers working with infants to get a DTaP vaccine

·         S22S76 (Hoylman)/A2316 (Dinowitz) – makes annual flu shots mandatory for pre-school & daycare in all of New York State

·         S298A (Hoylman)/A2912 (Paulin)– makes Gardasil (HPV) mandatory to attend school

·         S2444 (Krueger)/A6564 (Fahy)– allows minors fourteen and older to obtain any vaccine required to attend school in NY without parental knowledge or consent

·         S3899 (Krueger)/A973 – Allows minors to be given vaccines for sexually-transmitted diseases without parental knowledge or consent

In addition, Albany passed bills S2994 & A2371 on June 13, 2019, which revoked the religious exemption to vaccination. For whatever reasons, the mood in Albany now is to pass laws that mandate more vaccinations of everyone. Do not allow lawmakers to sell out UFT members to satisfy their PAC donors, lobbyists and special interests. Say NO to any and all vaccine mandates of New York Educators!