Freedom of Choice

Freedom.

According to the dictionary, freedom is the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.

According to our forefathers, freedom is the foundation of our homeland and every American’s birthright.

According to the many American service men and women who guarantee our freedom, it is the essential right for which they serve and sacrifice their lives. And in my world, freedom is quite simply the right to legally live my life the way that I see fit, without interference or oppression.

I am focused on these comprehensive definitions because it is my understanding that New York State is about to institute a regulation that I believe to be a complete violation of American freedom, in every sense of the word. From what I have been able to discover, the New York State powers that be are getting ready to issue a state wide decree that will stipulate the following:

1) All government medical/ health workers who have direct contact with the public must receive both a flu and a swine flu vaccine.

2) Since the swine flu vaccines have been created in haste — and in some cases outsourced to foreign countries such as China, where testing standards are below American specifications — all aforementioned employees must sign a release waver before receiving the swine flu vaccine. The waiver states that should any side effects occur as a result of receiving the vaccines, employees will not take legal action against the vaccine manufacturers.

3) The only exception to this vaccination program is if an employee can prove medically that they will suffer a life threatening reaction to the vaccine.

4) Should any employee refuse one or both vaccines, they will not be allowed to continue in their job and there will be no guarantee that they will be placed in another job where they would not come in direct contact with the public.

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Now I am fully aware that the upcoming flu season is being heralded as one of pandemic proportions. And for those in the health care and medical fields who will be dealing with flu sufferers, protection from infection is paramount. However, for my nickel, no one has the right to tell any adult American Citizen what legal substances they have to put into their bodies. Furthermore, no one has the right to threaten a person’s gainful employment as punitive coercion in any circumstance.

The added insult to this proposed vaccine program is the indemnifying waiver. If the vaccine is safe, then why is a side effect waiver required?

If the government is unsure of the vaccines’ safety, then why are they willing to risk the health of their employees—those same employees that they are supposedly trying to protect with this vaccination program?

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I find it hard to imagine that state health officials truly believe that they can institute such a vaccination program and succeed in forcing it upon their employees.

Further, I find it unimaginable that the government health employees involved will go quietly into the rank and file of vaccine receivers. Yet if both of those things happen, then I truly believe that the freedom that we have created, enjoy and defend as American citizens will be permanently damaged and unretreivably eliminated from our lives — and that would be a illness of truly pandemic proportions