New York’s ‘RFK Jr. Act’ Would Mandate Vaccine Reporting For Adults. Medical Freedom Advocates Are Fighting Back.
The “Registry for Keeping Justified Records Act,” or “RFK Jr. Act,” would create mandatory vaccine reporting for adults in New York State.
Medical freedom groups in New York are fighting legislation that would make it mandatory for the state’s healthcare providers to report all vaccines they administer to adults.
Earlier bills have passed the New York State Assembly on two occasions, but stalled in the Senate.
However, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D, WFP-Manhattan) reintroduced the bill this session. He also gave it a new name: “The Registry for Keeping Justified Records Act,” or the RFK Jr. Act — a clear shot at U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., opponents of the bill said.
The RFK Jr. Act is modeled after the state’s existing database, which mandates vaccine reporting for patients 18 and under.
Under the proposed law, healthcare providers would be required to report when they administer a vaccine to an adult, unless the patient opts out. Opponents contend that most people would not understand their rights to opt out of having their information added to the database.
Opponents plan to rally in Albany on May 14 to speak out against the bill. Michael Kane, founder of the advocacy group Teachers for Choice, one of the event’s sponsors, said if the RFK Jr. Act passes, it would set a dangerous precedent. Kane said:
“The database, what that does is if you’re tracking everyone who has gotten a shot, you can track anyone who hasn’t gotten a shot, and you can use that to punish them.”
A mandatory database also “would lay the groundwork” for digital vaccine passports, Kane said.
RFK Jr. Act has powerful friends in Albany
To be enacted into law this year, the legislation would need to pass both the Assembly and Senate in the current legislative session, which ends in June. The bill would then go to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) would then get the bill.
“If it gets through both houses, I would expect her to sign it,” said John Gilmore, executive director of the Autism Action Network, another co-sponsor of the upcoming rally.
Kane believes the legislation would be unlikely to pass in 2026, an election year, given its controversial nature.
The bill has attracted several powerful co-sponsors in the New York Senate, including Gustavo Rivera, chair of the Committee on Health.
In the press release announcing the bill’s new name and its reintroduction, Hoylman-Sigal referred to Kennedy as “notorious vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.”
He said:
“Unlike Kennedy, New Yorkers trust the scientific research that shows immunizations are essential to the primary prevention of disease from infancy through adulthood. … Effective tracking of vaccinations for adults is a commonsense and essential tool in this fight which is why we need the RFK, Jr. Act to be passed in the coming legislative session.”
“I think maybe Bobby [Kennedy] was taking up a pretty large chunk of space” in Hoylman-Sigal’s head at the time, Gilmore said.
“He is basically Pharma’s biggest friend in the legislature in New York. He’s had a bunch of bad bills in New York through the years.”
Gilmore said it’s no secret who would benefit from the proposed database.
“What could be better for the vaccine industry than to have a government-mandated database?” Gilmore asked. “It’s basically free marketing for them. That’s one of the beauties of the whole vaccine business, you don’t have to advertise that much, you have government entities working to move your product.”
Bill’s opponents have great record fighting similar legislation
As noted, a similar bill passed twice before in the New York State Assembly. Both times, the legislation failed to make the floor for a vote in the Senate. Can supporters get the legislation passed in both houses of the state government?
“This bill, it’s difficult to get a sense for where things really are in Albany,” Gilmore said. “Bills will sit for years and then sometimes get activated very quickly. We actually didn’t think this bill would get much momentum, but it’s interesting to see how many cosponsors this has picked up.”
Kane and Gilmore said they expect hundreds of people to turn out for the upcoming rally in Albany, which is co-sponsored by Children’s Health Defense (CHD). The event is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 14 at the New York State Capitol.
Those attending the “Rally to Restore and Reclaim Our Jobs, Our Exemptions, Our Rights!” will demonstrate in support of other “Human Rights Agenda” causes, including efforts to rehire fired unvaccinated New York City workers, bring back the religious exemption to vaccination for school children, protect the rights of medically fragile children to access an education, restore the right to sue for vaccine injuries and protect parental rights.
Kane and Gilmore will be on hand, as will author Naomi Wolf, CHD CEO Mary Holland, attorney Bobbie Anne Cox and veteran civil rights attorney and activist Sujata Gibson.
Similar rallies and grassroots efforts in recent years have drawn media attention and helped defeat either earlier versions of this bill or similar legislation.
“We really smacked down this bill and others last year. We did really well with our advocacy in Albany,” Kane said. “Since 2019, we’ve beaten every bill we’ve focused on.”
“This is the one bill we are really trying to stop this year,” Gilmore said. “For five years in a row, we’ve been able to stop every bill we’ve been trying to stop. We can beat it. It’s making sure people know that the voters are speaking up.”
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Thank you CHD for covering this important - yet horrendous - bill in NY. And thank you Arthur for quoting myself and John Gilmore in your reporting. Hope to see hundreds and hundreds of people show up in Albany on May 14! [get info on rally here: https://teachersforchoice.substack.com/p/heading-to-albany-may-14-to-fight]
Does Senator Hoylman-Sigal do anything that's not cartoonishly vindictive and petty?