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Vaccination Victory In Maine
By Scott Tips and Pamela Gerry
June 23, 2008

Typically, State and local governments – not to mention the Federal government – are notorious for being stuck in the Dark Ages of health and nutrition. So many people not only trust what the government says about such matters but even actively seek out its advice. One of the most insidious things that State and local governments have been doing is insisting that citizens must vaccinate their children in order for them to attend government schools. (See “Whiskey and Car Keys,” HFN 25:4, p. 2 about Maryland’s illegal intimidation tactics.)

As with Maryland, Maine does not mind violating its own laws when it comes to duping and coercing its citizens. Last year NHF board member and Southern Maine Chapter President Pamela Gerry heard from a friend who had received a letter from the superintendent of the public schools in her district stating quite clearly that unless her son Johnny’s vaccination records were submitted to the school, then Johnny would have to be removed from the school district “in compliance with Maine law.”

After obtaining a copy of the form letter being sent to the parents in the district, Gerry could easily see that it was not in compliance with the law:

From her own experience and knowledge, Gerry knew that the State statute governing vaccinations (20-A M.R.S. § 6355) clearly offered an “opt out,” which exemptions were ignored in the form letters.

"2. MEDICAL EXEMPTION. The parent or the child provides a physician's written statement that immunization against one or more of the diseases may be medically inadvisable.

3. PHILOSOPHICAL OR RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION. The parent states in writing a sincere religious belief that is contrary to the immunization requirement of this subchapter or an opposition to the immunization for philosophical reasons."

In November 2007, Gerry filed a complaint with the Maine Attorney General, Stephen Rowe, stating that a Maine statute was being violated repeatedly, and often on a daily basis. She told the Attorney General that most people in the State were being deliberately given the false impression that children had to be vaccinated in order to attend school and that this must stop.

In mid-April 2008, after more cage rattling by Gerry, she was notified that the Attorney General had found merit in her complaint and was in the process of contacting the Commissioner of Education to notify her that the school was out of compliance with Maine law. The Attorney General sent the letter.

Pleased with the outcome because “they didn’t wiggle out of it,” Gerry knows that many other districts are guilty of the same infraction and is asking the Attorney General’s office to obtain and review relevant immunization-demand letters from all Maine school districts in order to discover who else might need some instruction in crafting a letter that actually complies with the law.

“After that,” Gerry said, “we are going to begin to identify specific doctors and nurses throughout the State who coerce, intimidate, and even harass parents to submit their children to receiving the clearly-optional vaccines.” Half a dozen parents have already stated that they are on board to identify those pathetic medical practitioners who did not make known to them that the vaccine injections were optional. Stay tuned.