Stop the Lowering of Vaccination Consent Age to 12+

On January 21, 2022, Senator Scott Wiener and co-author Senator Josh Newman introduced a bill in the California state legislature that will lower the age of consent for the COVID vaccine (and any other future vaccine under Emergency Use Authorization) to just 12 years old.

This means children ages 12 through 17 can, without a parent's knowledge or consent, receive the COVID vaccine at school, at a walk-in clinic or pharmacy, or any other vaccine site.

We are demanding this bill be retracted by its authors for the following reasons:

1) Sen. Weiner claims unvaccinated children are "at risk" and "put others at risk." The data does not support this claim--children are at incredibly low risk of COVID complications, and the vaccines do not prevent transmission. There is no public health imperative for children to receive this preventative treatment.

2) Removing parents from their role in medical decision-making is an unacceptable overreach of state government. Parents know their children's personal health conditions, family histories, and individual risk factors.

3) Children are not capable of consent at this age. Their brains are simply not developed enough to make serious medical decisions, particularly ones that are irreversible.

4) While Senator Wiener claims this is equivalent to children consenting without parental knowledge to mental health treatment or birth control, neither of these has the level of adverse reactions or the same risk/benefit profile of the COVID vaccine.

5) Children, by and large, will not be booking an appointment and consulting their lifelong pediatricians or family doctors who have access to their medical records. They will be receiving these vaccines at schools and pharmacies being administered by nurses and techs who have no knowledge of the student's medical history or current medical concerns.

6) There is zero data on long-term effects of requiring 3 mRNA-based shots within a 12-month period to be considered "up to date," and we have no information on how frequently new "boosters" will be required.