The District of Columbia thinks children as young as 11 years old should be vaccinated without their parents’ consent—and the district has passed a bill to make this belief a reality. If the bill isn’t stopped by Congress, other states may soon follow the district’s example.

Home School Legal Defense Association does not hold a position on whether or not children should be vaccinated. We simply believe that parents should have the right to make that decision for their families, just as parents should have the right to direct the education of their children.

Just before Christmas, the DC Council passed bill 23-171. The bill states that “a minor, eleven years of age or older, may consent to receive a vaccine where the minor is capable of meeting the informed consent standard, and the vaccine is recommended by the United States Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).”

Yes, 11-year-olds. Most children that age are not doing in-depth research on the uses and effects of vaccines. Most don’t know their own medical history, much less their family’s. But the DC Council wants to empower them to receive a vaccination without any guardian’s input.

Who Should Decide

Though the bill states that the child must meet the “informed consent standard,” nowhere does the bill suggest who determines if a child does, in fact, meet that standard. It should be the parents. For kids receiving a vaccination in a setting without parents (say, public schools), it won’t be.

While apparently motivated by a desire to provide more students with access to vaccines, the DC bill completely removes parents from the equation. It also prohibits the administering medical provider from documenting the vaccine in the child’s normal medical record, preventing the family physician from knowing that vaccination took place.

Instead, the bill requires the provider to submit the vaccination documentation directly to a child’s school. And in case that isn’t radical enough, the bill explicitly prohibits the school from providing this information to the child’s parents.

The bill’s goal is to cut parents out and then prevent them, and their own family practitioner, from even knowing any potentially life-changing decision had been made for their child during the school day. This isn’t about what’s good for children. This is about government officials taking power away from families.

But what about kids who don’t attend physical school, such as homeschool students? This bill would affect them too. If any child goes to a doctor’s office, the physician could administer a vaccine if they determine that the child meets the informed consent standard.

What You Can Do

Fortunately, this is only the beginning of the fight. Because the District of Columbia is not a state, every bill that the DC Council passes must be submitted to Congress for a 30-legislative-day review period. During that time, Congress may introduce a joint resolution of disapproval against any DC bills they don’t want to see enacted. If President Biden signs that resolution during the review period, the DC bill fails.

Representative Michael Cloud (TX) and Senator Mike Lee (UT) have introduced resolutions in their respective chambers to that effect, SJ Res 7 and HJ Res 25. Congress received the bill from the DC Council on February 2, so the 30-day clock is now ticking.

These resolutions will take a bipartisan effort to pass, but parental rights is not a partisan issue. Every parent should be allowed to be involved in such monumental medical decisions for their children. Every member of Congress who is or wants to be a parent should want to see this bill overturned. Every parent should have the right to be involved in their children’s lives, but the DC Council doesn’t see it that way—they think government bureaucrats can raise your kids better than you can.

If DC is successful in enacting this law, other states could follow suit. Several states have already introduced similar legislation, but those bills haven’t passed yet. To help stop this precedent from expanding, contact your representative and senators and ask them to cosponsor these measures.