We, the signers of this online petition, urge, in the strongest terms possible, our representatives in the California State Senate and California State Legislature to reject Senate Bill 871. This legislation represents an egregious overreach of government authority that violates both our freedom of conscience, and the authority and responsibility of parents to care for their children. It is unconscionable that any elected official would vote in favor of this bill.

Our objections to SB 871 are twofold. First, the bill gives the unelected California Department of Public Health power to add any vaccine it deems necessary to the list of vaccinations required for public school enrollment. Since some vaccines come with grave conscience concerns, such authority should, by no means, rest with the CDPH. This bill also removes the ability of parents to lodge a conscience objection against a mandated vaccine, whether religious or otherwise. Who among our legislative representatives thinks that we, the people of California, would agree to surrender this right?

Second, SB 871 requires children to receive a vaccine that is neither necessary nor proven over time. While every death from COVID is tragic, the percentage of children who die from this disease has been miniscule. What’s more, as the Omicron wave clearly demonstrated, the vaccine does not prevent transmission among students. Both of these data points make it an unnecessary requirement for school enrollment. Whether or not an individual child should receive the vaccine is a decision for parents, and not a state functionary. Finally, we should note that the COVID vaccine has not yet been proven over time. While decades-worth of data regarding long-term effects support other vaccines on California’s mandatory list, the same cannot be said for the COVID vaccine. Our children should not involuntarily become guinea pigs for the public health establishment and the pharmaceutical industry.

While this petition focuses specifically on SB 871, we also decry other efforts of the so-called “vaccine working group” to advance a raft of coercive and irresponsible legislation – SB 871, SB 866, SB 1479, SB 1464, AB 1993, AB 2098. If our elected officials cannot govern responsibly, then it will be our responsibility to vote them out of office at the earliest opportunity.