Oppose HCR 2056 - Protect Public Health and Community Immunity

I urge you to oppose HCR 2056 when it comes before the House Health and Human Services Committee on Monday. This resolution would amend Arizona's Constitution to prohibit government entities from requiring vaccines or other medical treatments, even as conditions for school attendance, public employment, or access to public facilities. This proposal arrives at a dangerous moment. The United States is currently experiencing the largest measles outbreak in decades, and Arizona's vaccine exemption rates have already reached levels that public health experts describe as "a disaster waiting to happen." HCR 2056 would constitutionalize the very attitudes driving this crisis, elevating individual refusal above community protection. Vaccines are not merely personal choices with personal consequences. They are the foundation of community immunity that protects infants too young for vaccination, individuals with compromised immune systems, and those for whom vaccines are medically contraindicated. When vaccination rates drop below critical thresholds, outbreaks of preventable diseases become inevitable. Children who cannot be vaccinated for legitimate medical reasons depend on high community vaccination rates for their safety. The resolution's sweeping language would prevent government from requiring any medical intervention involving "invasion of or affixing any item or article to the body" as a condition of employment, education, or public facility access. This would eliminate longstanding public health protections that have successfully controlled diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and polio for generations. Representative Kupper's personal experience with military vaccine requirements does not constitute sound public health policy for Arizona's 7.4 million residents. His near removal from the Air Force for refusing COVID vaccination reflects the military's recognition that individual refusal can compromise unit readiness and public safety. I ask you to vote no on HCR 2056 and protect the public health infrastructure that has kept Arizona's children safe from preventable diseases. Community immunity is not negotiable.