2009 Florida Statutes: 381.00315 Public health advisories; public health emergencies

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0300-0399/0381/Sections/0381.00315.html

[Sarasota for Vaccination Choice comment:

Florida Law & Forced Vaccination vs. Informed Consent & Health Freedom

". . . If the State can tag, track down and force citizens against their will to be injected with biologicals of unknown toxicity today, there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the State can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow." -- Barbara Loe Fisher, National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC)

On May 1, 2009, the Surgeon General of Florida, in concert with the Governor's Office, declared a 60-day "Public Health Emergency" concerning the H1N1 influenza. This declaration activated draconian provisions in Florida public health statutes, Chapter 381 (full text below, or see:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0300-0399/0381/Sections/0381.00315.html

Today's Florida public health statutes reflect revisions made, post-9/11, to incorporate elements of the Model State Health Emergency Powers Act (MSHEPA), legislation criticized by both the right and the left for civil liberties violations. The Florida public health emergency officially expired on June 30, 2009, and was not extended.

Despite the expiration , the H1N1 "state of emergency" effectively continues in Florida. Disregarding the official recognition that H1N1 is a relatively mild form of influenza, the Florida Department of Health, acting at the direction of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Health & Human Services, continues to advise counties to implement massive seasonal and H1N1 vaccination programs, including
"drive-through" vaccination clinics and in-school vaccinations.

In this environment, schoolchildren, parents, hospital workers and others are arguably coerced to take the experimental vaccines. Informed consent is under assault.

Vaccines are pharmaceuticals for which the official, FDA-approved package inserts describe injury or death as potential adverse effects. They typically contain many more ingredients than just the biologic agent, often known hazards. In fact, injury and death do occur all too frequently as a direct result of vaccination. "Drive-through" vaccination clinics and schools, which lack personal physician oversight and rule out informed consent, are NOT proper settings to deliver such drugs.

Whether or not the State of Florida is currently operating in an official, legal "public health emergency," the State does arguably act outside the Florida Constitution in its hysteria-promoting and coercive efforts.

Here is the key language pertaining to individual rights during an officially declared "public health emergency":

“The State Health Officer, upon declaration of a public health emergency, may take actions that are necessary to protect the public health. Such actions include, but are not limited to:

...

“4. Ordering an individual to be examined, tested, vaccinated, treated, or quarantined for communicable diseases that have significant morbidity or mortality and present a severe danger to public health. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to be examined, tested, vaccinated, or treated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience may be subjected to quarantine.

“a. Examination, testing, vaccination, or treatment may be performed by any qualified person authorized by the State Health Officer.

“b. If the individual poses a danger to the public health, the State Health Officer may subject the individual to quarantine. If there is no practical method to quarantine the individual, the State Health Officer may use any means necessary to vaccinate or treat the individual.

“Any order of the State Health Officer given to effectuate this paragraph shall be immediately enforceable by a law enforcement officer under s. 381.0012.”

This language is overly broad, inviting arbitrary and capricious conduct by state officials. Qualified experts have been very vocal about the fact that H1N1 influenza does not represent a genuine public health crisis warranting draconian measures.

However, such revelations have not stopped the proponents of the unprecedented H1N1 vaccination campaign from characterizing H1N1 as a "communicable disease that [has] significant morbidity or mortality and present[s] a severe danger to public health."

In some officials’ hands, the language "may use any means necessary [italics added] to vaccinate or treat" could invite forceful and even injurious tactics. The statute must be rewritten to protect rather than endanger the public health, and to respect civil liberties.

Certain authorities have been promising a pandemic for at least the past eight years. Now, H1N1 – a mild influenza - appears, and legal precedents are being set. This is a slippery slope... even the U.S. Military has been enlisted to help with coercive vaccination methods.

What will happen in the coming months and years, if the legal precedents fail to recognize individual health needs, personal sovereignty over one’s body, and civil rights?

Florida citizens need to demand that our representatives revise this law, in order to codify and preserve the individual's sovereign right to refuse medical treatment or vaccination that violates his or her health, conscience and/or religion, and in order to free citizens from vaccine coercion, whether or not a "public health emergency" is in effect.

Read the law! Let’s find language that truly protects our health and our rights. Please spread the word.

--Jason B.]

===========

Title XXIX

PUBLIC HEALTH

Chapter 381

PUBLIC HEALTH: GENERAL PROVISIONS

View Entire Chapter

381.00315  Public health advisories; public health emergencies.--The State Health Officer is responsible for declaring public health emergencies and issuing public health advisories.

(1)  As used in this section, the term:

(a)  "Public health advisory" means any warning or report giving information to the public about a potential public health threat.

Prior to issuing any public health advisory, the State Health Officer must consult with any state or local agency regarding areas of responsibility which may be affected by such advisory. Upon determining that issuing a public health advisory is necessary to protect the public health and safety, and prior to issuing the advisory, the State Health Officer must notify each county health department within the area which is affected by the advisory of the State Health Officer's intent to issue the advisory.

The State Health Officer is authorized to take any action appropriate to enforce any public health advisory.

(b)  "Public health emergency" means any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural or man made, which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the public health from infectious disease, chemical agents, nuclear agents, biological toxins, or situations involving mass casualties or natural disasters. Prior to declaring a public health emergency, the State Health Officer shall, to the extent possible, consult with the Governor and shall notify the Chief of Domestic Security. The declaration of a public health emergency shall continue until the State Health Officer finds that the threat or danger has been dealt with to the extent that the emergency conditions no longer exist and he or she terminates the declaration. However, a declaration of a public health emergency may not continue for longer than 60 days unless the Governor concurs in the renewal of the declaration. The State Health Officer, upon declaration of a public health emergency, may take actions that are necessary to protect the public health. Such actions include, but are not limited to:

1.  Directing manufacturers of prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs who are permitted under chapter 499 and wholesalers of prescription drugs located in this state who are permitted under chapter 499 to give priority to the shipping of specified drugs to pharmacies and health care providers within geographic areas that have been identified by the State Health Officer. The State Health Officer must identify the drugs to be shipped. Manufacturers and wholesalers located in the state must respond to the State Health Officer's priority shipping directive before shipping the specified drugs.

2.  Notwithstanding chapters 465 and 499 and rules adopted thereunder, directing pharmacists employed by the department to compound bulk prescription drugs and provide these bulk prescription drugs to physicians and nurses of county health departments or any qualified person authorized by the State Health Officer for administration to persons as part of a prophylactic or treatment regimen.

3.  Notwithstanding s. 456.036, temporarily reactivating the inactive license of the following health care practitioners, when such practitioners are needed to respond to the public health emergency: physicians licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459; physician assistants licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459; licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and advanced registered nurse practitioners licensed under part I of chapter 464; respiratory therapists licensed under part V of chapter 468; and emergency medical technicians and paramedics certified under part III of chapter 401. Only those health care practitioners specified in this paragraph who possess an unencumbered inactive license and who request that such license be reactivated are eligible for reactivation. An inactive license that is reactivated under this paragraph shall return to inactive status when the public health emergency ends or prior to the end of the public health emergency if the State Health Officer determines that the health care practitioner is no longer needed to provide services during the public health emergency. Such licenses may only be reactivated for a period not to exceed 90 days without meeting the requirements of s. 456.036 or chapter 401, as applicable.

4.  Ordering an individual to be examined, tested, vaccinated, treated, or quarantined for communicable diseases that have significant morbidity or mortality and present a severe danger to public health. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to be examined, tested, vaccinated, or treated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience may be subjected to quarantine.

a.  Examination, testing, vaccination, or treatment may be performed by any qualified person authorized by the State Health Officer.

b.  If the individual poses a danger to the public health, the State Health Officer may subject the individual to quarantine. If there is no practical method to quarantine the individual, the State Health Officer may use any means necessary to vaccinate or treat the individual.

Any order of the State Health Officer given to effectuate this paragraph shall be immediately enforceable by a law enforcement officer under s. 381.0012.

(2)  Individuals who assist the State Health Officer at his or her request on a volunteer basis during a public health emergency are entitled to the benefits specified in s. 110.504(2), (3), (4), and (5).