UPDATE 8/26: VOTE IS MONDAY, CALL NOW!

• Tom Daly (714) 939-8469, (916) 319-2069
• Cottie Petrie-Norris (949) 251-0074, (916) 319-2074
• Sharon Quirk-Silva (714) 525-6515, (916) 319-2065

OK, check it out. Nearly a million California teenagers 12 years old thru 17 have not yet been vaccinated for Covid, and presently they can’t be vaccinated without their parents’ consent. And you know a lot of adults here and in every state are victims of anti-vaccine propaganda, or otherwise too busy or indifferent to get their teenaged children vaccinated. And you know MANY of these teenagers (who, we’ll see, are legally able to get an abortion and many other things without parental consent) would LIKE to be vaccinated, for all the usual reasons:

• to reduce the chances of contracting the virus especially a severe case of it;
• to reduce the chance of passing it on to friends, family and strangers;
• to do their part in SUPPRESSING this endemic in general;
• and to be able to participate in certain activities that require vaccination. OK?

Scott Wiener’s SB 866, which should be back up for an assembly vote as soon as this week, would allow teenagers 15 and up to get vaccinated for Covid without parental consent. Or to be precise, it allows them “to consent to vaccination when the vaccine is approved by the FDA and meets the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the CDC.”

If this does not already sound like a NO-BRAINER to you, consider:

• Minors in California 12 and older can already consent to receive the HPV and hepatitis B vaccines.
• Minors in California 12 and older can already consent to birth control and abortions.
• Minors in California 12 and older can already consent to medical diagnosis and treatment for STD’s, drug and alcohol-related disorders, injuries resulting from sexual assaults and intimate partner violence, and mental health disorders.

“Wait,” you say, “are we talking about 12 or 15? Are you saying kids 12 and older can do all the above, but can’t get Covid vaccines without parental consent? And that even if this bill passes, it leaves 12-to-14 year olds behind?”

Yup. Wiener’s bill originally granted vaccine freedom to teens 12 and up, but last June it didn’t quite get enough votes in the assembly, so the authors compromised up to 15. How sad is that? That cuts into exactly HALF the number of teens it would have protected. Think of all the 12, 13, and 14 year-olds who still won’t be able to get vaccinated if their parents are anti-vaxxers (or too busy or distracted.) But at least we might be able to protect the 15-17 crowd?

Well, we’ll see. Going by June’s vote count we’ll need at least three more assembly votes. From Orange County we got, shamefully, NONE. Sharon Quirk-Silva voted NO along with all four useless OC Republicans (Chen, Choi, Davies & Janet – what is wrong with that Party?) Meanwhile Tom Daly and Cottie Petrie-Norris hid in the corner or something.

(Previously, when it barely passed the Senate with 21 votes, our only OC yes votes were Josh Newman who’s also a co-author, and Tom Umberg who’s the only OC lawmaker up for re-election with the courage. And THAT was the pre-compromised 12-and-up version! Pat Bates and Dave Min hid in the corner of that chamber.)

So, why is it so hard for our OC Assemblymembers, even the Democrats, to vote for this good commonsense public health bill?

The Anti-Vaxxers are Organized, and Scary.

Remember the militant Covid deniers, anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers that used to swarm and rave at various meetings and rallies, whom we used to make fun of? (Many of them, having participated in the Jan 6 insurrection, were included in our “Insane Coup Posse.”) Well, they didn’t go away. When a bill like this comes to Sacramento, they light up the phone lines for weeks, and they show up en masse. This bill in particular triggers them in several ways: Not only are they certain that vaccines are useless, harmful and a government conspiracy, the bill also ties in with their paranoia that schools and the government are trying to brainwash their kids.

Senator Wiener has received credible death threats just for authoring this bill. A couple years ago an anti-vaxxer livestreamed himself attacking another pro-vaccine Senator, Richard Pan, and later that year an anti-vax woman dumped blood on the senators from the visitors’ gallery.

But they’re also real well organized for polite lobbying, and so far proponents of this bill do not seem to be. The opponents’ main argument is the nebulous but heart-tugging “the bill would infringe on the sacred parent-child relationship.“ I got a kick from one website which warns readers in bold, “Do not call or write as a HOMESCHOOLER.”

[Also do not – repeat, NOT – identify yourself as a “knuckle dragger!”]

The sad fact is, Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva has gotten THREE HUNDRED calls and e-mails against the bill, and almost none in favor. Running for re-election in a newly-drawn and more conservative district, she isn’t eager to give her opponent, the weird Soo Yoo, more ammunition against her, bogus or not.

And further south there’s Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, competing in a new district against fellow incumbent Steven Choi – and I have promised to host a true celebration the first time we catch Cottie doing anything brave.

If those are your assemblywomen, you should call them anyway, and encourage them to vote for SB 866, especially now that it’s amended to only 15 and up.

• Cottie Petrie-Norris (949) 251-0074, (916) 319-2074
• Sharon Quirk-Silva (714) 525-6515, (916) 319-2065

But Tom Daly…

Assemblyman Tom Daly has no excuse and no apparent reason to defeat a bill like this; I’ve left him messages and so should you! Leave aside his representing the SAFEST, MOST DEMOCRATIC district of OC (Anaheim / Santa Ana), he’s actually RETIRING, and leaving the seat to his successor Avelino Valencia, who DOES care about public health (I wasn’t aware that Tom didn’t.)

This blog has disagreed with him plenty in the past, but always on his votes that favor big corporations against the people, and his “tough-on-crime stances.” I haven’t heard and can’t imagine why he would oppose a common-sense public-health bill like this. So maybe he won’t, if enough of us call him! (714) 939-8469, or (916) 319-2069 – call both!

You know how they say, “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with a passionate intensity and get halfway around the world while the best are still strapping their boots on.” Or something along those lines? Well, let’s strap those boots on and make those calls!

VERN OUT.

• Tom Daly (714) 939-8469, (916) 319-2069
• Cottie Petrie-Norris (949) 251-0074, (916) 319-2074
• Sharon Quirk-Silva (714) 525-6515, (916) 319-2065