The Opt-Out provision is what is being tauted by bringers of this bill as the fair way to proceed with this experimental vaccination program. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding, here's why:

OPT OUT = MANDATORY

• The threat that a child will not be able to attend school will scare enough parents and force them to rush a decision to vaccinate their kids with the experimental Gardisil. The fear of their kids not attending school will almost assuredly eliminate their chance of hearing all positions about this questionable vaccination program and hence they truly won't be able to make an informed and stress-free decision about their child's health in this regard.
  
  
• Many District parents are functionally illiterate, in fact 1 in 3, as demonstrated in recent surveys. This makes being informed about this vaccination, both the pro's and con's, nearly impossible. Gardisil's dissenting view would almost certainly not be available to these parents as the City Council rubberstamping this bill lends to no motivation on part of city schools and physicians to explain the rightful concerns about this experimental drug and thus to provide any reasons for opting-out.
  
  
• It has been shown in prior opt-out programs that participants are typically guilted or cavalierly cajoled by the vaccine administers to get the shot. This happens mainly due to the typical patient-physician relationship where the "doctor knows best" mentality makes it tough to deny the value of an experimental vaccination program. Couple this with vaccine administers inevitably alluding to the fact the their City Council member voted for this vaccination program and you will find that most people trust their leaders with their health and thus won't bother with understanding the dissenting position of this very questionable vaccination program.

OPT OUT = MANDATORY

• The leading Gardisil researcher, Diane Harper, says that a mandatory HPV vaccination program is wrong.
• The Chair of the Center for Disease Control, Jon Abrahamson, says that a mandatory HPV vaccination program is wrong.
• State legislators and local municipalities are defying executive orders requiring mandatory vaccinations throughout the United States.
• Many states are passing bills about Gardisil requesting more time to review the findings of test trials and the efficacy of the drug.
• Many states and local municipalities are passing bills making the vaccine simply optional.

THE DC CITY COUNCIL MUST DEMAND MORE TIME TO HOLD MORE PUBLIC HEARINGS ABOUT THIS EXPERIMENTAL DRUG. IF GARDISIL IS TO BE INTRODUCED HERE IN THE DISTRICT IT SHOULD BE SIMPLY OPTIONAL FOR PARENTS, NOT OPT-OUT AS THIS ESSENTIALLY EQUATES TO MANDATORY.

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