SB85–Another Front in the Vax Wars

March 6, 2025–SB85 passed out of committee and now is headed to a vote on the Senate floor, and that’s a very good thing.

Introduced by State Senator Orr and co-sponsored by State Sen. Chesteen, SB85 strengthens religious vaccine exemptions for both children in K-12 and adults in higher education. At present, religious exemptions for K-12 can only be issued by county health departments. Also, public institutions of higher learning are not required to acknowledge medical exemptions for immunization at all.

SB85 amends the current law to make a parent’s or guardian’s written statement sufficient documentation of a religious exemption. It also provides for religious and medical exemptions for students at public institutions of higher education, for those schools that require immunizations or testing.

So, why is this important?

It’s important because as things now stand, if you want a religious exemption to keep your kid from being jabbed, you have to go to the county health department. As the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) website says:

“A Certificate of Religious Exemption can only be issued by a county health department. The parent or legal guardian must submit a written objection and receive education on the consequences of not immunizing their child. By State School Immunization Law, a Religious Exemption can only be issued to kindergarten through 12th grade and not to institutions of higher learning.”

You must RECEIVE EDUCATION ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT IMMUNIZING….

Now, read that again, and use a bad German accent. In my head, I use Gestapo Major Hochstetter from Hogan’s Heroes, but any crazed European accent will do.

“You must receive ze education on ze consequenzes of not immunizing your lieblings, und zhen if you do not comply you will be SHOT!”

No, I’m certainly not saying that our local health departments would EVER apply coercion or present anything but a completely unbiased, balanced and impartial picture of the full risks, benefits, side effects and alternatives to treatment in every single case. Of course they wouldn’t! That would be a violation of basic medical and ethical principles, which NEVER happens in public health. Or drug trials. Or vaccine trials. At all. Ever.

Except, of course, when the package insert that lists those risks and side effects is blank. Like it was for the COVID jabs. Which, as we were repeatedly told, were safe and effective.

Until they weren’t.

But ADPH is in the business of giving shots. Their jobs are to get needles in arms, as often as possible to meet “The Guidelines.” Which are established by The Science(™).

You see where I’m going with this, don’t you?

I was raised to believe that vaccines were great. That’s what I was told all the way through school, including medical school. Of course, I was also told that autism was a vanishingly rare condition, and that I’d see maybe three or four every decade or so as a Child Psychiatrist.

But that was then. Now….

The official story is that vaccines don’t cause autism, but if you’re like me, you’re at the point where you’re automatically suspicious of the official story. COVID and the jab did that to us—but the ADPH apparently is still working off the old playbook. They’re still pushing the COVID jab, and every other jab, and are on a Holy Crusade to get those needles in those arms, for the Glory of Saint Tony of Fauci!

With apologies to Willie S., a cult by another name….

But SB85 gives you a way out, and that’s why it’s important. Under SB85’s changes, you don’t have to go in for “education” (read: coercive manipulation via selective information, professional pressure, guilting and shaming) at the county health department. If you’re in a public college or university, now you have an out if you don’t want to risk “Suddenly,” or myocarditis, or Guillian-Barré, or…or…or….

I’m not saying we should abruptly stop all vaccinations immediately. But, I do think we need to take a look at all the data RFK Jr’s collected, and look at other countries' data, and seriously think about which of the 72 childhood jabs we might could do without while we safety-test all the rest.

Or is it unreasonable to want to be reasonably certain we’re not doing more harm than good with these things?

Doing that properly will take years. Until then, SB85 puts that decision in the hands of parents (or young adults), instead of bureaucrats and people whose jobs are to put needles in arms.

That’s why I support SB85, and I think you should support it, too.

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/or publishers.