Since 1967, Tennessee has protected students, faculty, staff, and communities by requiring certain vaccinations for children to attend school. House Joint Resolution 28, by Rep. Gino Bulso, threatens to make these requirements unconstitutional. School vaccination requirements play a vital role in keeping diseases at bay. Measles eradication is a shining example of the success of such laws. The return of outbreaks is a chilling reminder of their importance…Tennessee once proudly led the rest of the country in preventing disease. HJR0028 threatens to make us a leader in increased illnesses, hospitalizations, long-lasting impairments, and even deaths. Our General Assembly has the opportunity to choose the kind of example we want to be to the rest of the country.

It all begins with an idea.Foster families have a responsibility and mission to improve the lives of the children in their care. To bring children into an environment where they are medically unprotected from conditions that can have lifelong repercussions is not responsible or loving.

Tennesseans are better than that. I urge our legislators to uphold the vaccine requirements for prospective foster families, for the sake of all our children.  

Erin Floyd is a foster parent who resides in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.