Bloomberg To Force Flu Vaccinations On Pre School, Day Care Children

From Politicker:

On Wednesday, with just three weeks to go until he leaves office, Mr. Bloomberg’s controversial Board of Health is set to vote on new rules that would force children as young as six months old to be immunized each year before December 31 if they attend licensed day care or pre-school programs.



“Young children have a high risk of developing severe complications from influenza. One-third of children under five in New York City do not receive an annual influenza vaccination, even though the vaccine safely and effectively protects them against influenza illness,” the Health Department said in a statement. “This mandate will help protect the health of young children, while reducing the spread of influenza in New York City.”

The Board is stocked with mayoral appointees and controversial initiatives–from smoking bans to regulations on soda cup sizes–have sailed through with little opposition, angering a small, but passionate group of advocates who claim the vaccinations are potentially dangerous.

“The Bloomberg administration is wildly exaggerating the benefit of the flu shot and we think they are wildly underestimating the risks involved with it,” said John Gilmore, the executive director of the Autism Action Network, speaking more broadly than the controversial claim that links vaccines to autism.

“There are risks associated with every medical procedure,” he said, citing allergic reactions, toxic mercury used as a preservative and questions as to whether the Board’s move is legal given state government jurisdictions.

Whether you think mandatory flu vaccinations are safe and not a problem or you think they're a health risk, isn't this an issue we can roll over and deal with in the next administration?

Why does Bloomberg get to shove it through with 3 weeks to go?

This feels like another imperious move by our imperial mayor who has decided he will decide everything for everybody.

Bloomberg Loses Soda Ban Appeal

I'm going to celebrate with a Big Gulp:

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It looks like supersized sugary drinks in New York City are staying on the menu.

In a unanimous opinion, an appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision Tuesday, saying the Board of Health’s plan to put a 16-ounce limit on sugary drinks was an illegal overreach of executive power.
The four-judge panel of the state Supreme Court Appellate Division said the Board of Health was acting too much like a legislative body when it created the ban and said it didn’t believe sugary drinks were “inherently harmful.”

...

The judges also said the board appeared to have created much of the new rules on political or economic considerations, rather than health concerns.

Bloomberg said he planned to appeal the appeal and, if that didn't work, buy off legislators with his PAC money.

Okay, I made up the last part about buying off legislators with his PAC money, but since that's what he's been doing on the gun control and education reform issues, there's no reason to think he won't try to do the same with the soda ban nonsense.

But for now, he has lost on this issue.

And now, on to my Big Gulp - although I prefer club soda to anything else...