If you know ANYONE with children in Mississippi PLEASE forward this to them. Mississippi is one of the FEW states left who do NOT accept a philosophical exemption for vaccinations. In other words you are FORCED to get your kids vaccinated unless you can find a doctor who will sign off.

Dr. Mike

Forwarded Message:

We have introduced a Philosophical Exemption bill again this year into the Mississippi Senate. Some of you probably remember how it all transpired last year, that despite our best effort Senator Hob Bryan of Amory was able to single handedly kill our bill in the Public Health Committee.

We have tried very hard to have our bill referred to Education, where we had talked to the chairman and been given his word that he would allow our bill a chance. But it turns out that again we have been referred to Public Health and Senator Hob Bryan.

At this point we do not have much hope of our bill getting anywhere. Senator Bryan has almost total control over which bills are taken up for a vote in his committee, and if he doesn't take up our bill, then it will die.

Our one and only chance of having our bill heard is to appeal to Lt. Governor Phil Bryant! The Lt. Governor has the power to make a committee chair take up a bill for voting.

This letter is to ask any of you who are serious about this philosophical exemption to please take 5 minutes of your time and call the Lt. Governor's office. Ask Lt. Gov. Bryan to please support Senate Bill 2662 for Vaccine Exemption. Remind him that last year, despite widespread community support and support within his committee, that Senator Hob Bryan refused to give our bill a chance in his committee, and refused to even meet with anyone from our side. We have the unique advantage that this year Lt. Gov. Bryan has announced his aspirations to run for Governor. He is going to be more open to hearing and supporting issues of the "common man" than he has ever been in years past. We've got to open his eyes to this problem, and convince him to spur Senator Hob Bryan into action!

We have been told by many of the legislators in the past that they do not always read their e-mails, so sending him one is a waste of time. If you do better on paper than you do on the phone, then please type or write up a letter and either mail it to him at P.O. Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215, or fax it to 601-359-4054. Our best bet is calls, that way they hear our passion and we can know that our voice was heard. The phone number for Lt. Gov. Bryan's office is 601-359-3200. An aide will likely answer your call, but they communicate with the Lt. Governor and will be able to relay your message.

The deadline for this bill to be taken up is February 2. After that it will be too late. Please, take a few minutes and contact the Lt. Governor now. Unless we let him know that we want this Vaccine Exemption, and that our support for him hinges on his support for Vaccine Choice, then we are dead in the water. Hob Bryan has made it more than clear that he will not budge otherwise, and we can't afford a repeat of last year.

Thank you,

Sarah Coleman
rupret1@juno.com