“Ghost” Bill A8378 Stirs Vaccination Controversy

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered our lives in previously unimaginable ways… From the early days of quarantine to today, different variants and strains of the virus continue to mutate and affect people’s lives in different ways. As a society we continue to live with COVID-19; and as the virus mutates and changes, so does our societal and governmental response to it. Assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz recently put forth a bill in the New York State Assembly to include the COVID-19 vaccination in the mandatory vaccinations needed for schools; however, this bill never reported out of the Health Committee! A bill is assigned to a committee for discussion and analysis; if a majority of members on the committee support it, the bill is reported to the floor. If not, the bill is said to have “died in committee”.

This bill, which has been sponsored by Assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz and co-sponsored by Assemblyman Phil Steck and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, has caused opposition, especially on social media – a petition against the bill, which is on Change.org, has been circulating around Facebook for about a year. This petition reads: “New York State Parents Against Bill A8378 Requires Immunization for Kids K-12” and  currently has just under 100,000 signatures; the goal of the petition is 150,000 signatures.  

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Federal Government has declared a public health emergency –  a Public Health Emergency (PHE) was initially declared by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in late January of 2020, pursuant to Section 319 of the Public Health Services Act. A PHE lasts for 90 days, and must be renewed to be continued; the PHE for COVID-19 had been renewed as recently as October of 2022, and is scheduled for the next renewal mid-January 2023.

This proposed bill A8378 would add the COVID-19 vaccination to the list of required vaccinations to attend school. The summary of the bill reads: “Authorizes the commissioner of health to develop and supervise the execution of immunization against COVID-19 for purpose of state aid to schools; requires immunization against COVID-19 for attendance at school”. 

Assemblyman Dinowitz represents the 81st assembly district in the Bronx. His district includes Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt Village, Kingsbridge Heights, Marble Hill, Norwood, Woodlawn, and Wakefield. Via an email interview, Dinowitz said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has killed nearly 1.1 million people, including more than 77,000 New Yorkers. The vaccine is incredibly effective at reducing the risk of severe effects from a COVID-19 infection, and community immunity has a significant impact on reducing transmission of the virus. Children already have to be vaccinated against viruses like measles, tetanus, polio and many other deadly diseases. My bill would simply add the COVID-19 vaccine to the existing list once it receives full approvals from the CDC and FDA.”

For this bill to go to a full floor vote, it would have to be reported out of the Health Committee and subsequent committees, which has not happened. This is among the many hurdles that this bill faces – the vaccines are currently in use under an emergency use authorization, and need to receive full approval from the CDC and FDA before they would be considered for the bill.

Parents who have signed the petition to stop bill A8378 support the parental right to decide what vaccines are best for their child. The petition says: “The COVID-19 vaccine has not had sufficient study trials for children, nor has it been tested long enough.” Comments in the “Reason for Signing” section of the petition include, “I DO NOT CO PARENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT”, “Our children are not science experiments”, and “My kids my choice…my choice!” 

Assemblyman Matt Simpson of Assembly District 114 – which is Essex County, Warren County and parts of Saratoga, Washington and Fulton Counties – is not in favor of the mandate. He said via phone interview: “I am opposed to mandating the vaccine. I believe that is a parental rights decision.” Simpson is hopeful that we are on the other side of the pandemic, and that a vaccine mandate is not in line with the current status of COVID-19 – he pointed out that this legislation may be from the height of COVID-19, when some “Draconian” measures were being looked at to control the spread of the disease.

The petition has been circulating on Facebook for almost a year, and new signatures are constantly being added to it; within the last hour, two more people have signed the petition, showing an active public concern with the state of the issue.

Currently, the COVID-19 vaccine is still being used in an emergency capacity. The bill has not been reported out of committee, and therefore has “died in committee”; although this bill has been drafted, the State Assembly is not in session, and there are no State Assembly committees currently in session. This parental movement against immunization requirements continues to maintain their dissent of this bill as the petition continues to circulate on Facebook, with concerned parents continuing to sign it… As this issue continues to change and evolve, talking to local representatives is important – both Assemblyman Simpson and Assemblyman Dinowitz were very responsive to questions and inquiries about this issue.