We champion teen rights and health equity for all! Check us out on Instagram @teensforvaxx 
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins the California School-Based Health Alliance in supporting SB 954. The bills seeks to address the sexually transmitted infection (STI) epidemic disproportionately affecting youth of color and improve equitable health outcomes by expanding teen access to condoms in schools and communities.
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins the National Association of Rural Health Clinics to support S.198 and H.R.3730. This bipartisan legislation seeks to modernize over 5,200 rural health clinics providing quality care to patients in rural and underserved areas by updating the outdated Rural Health Clinic statute that has not been updated in 45 years! Among various changes, the bill calls for lab equipment modernization and offering mental health services, longstanding needs in several areas facing shortage.
Contact us or use VoterVoice to regiser your support!
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins HPV Cancers Alliance and HPVAndMe to support H.R.3633, a bipartisan lifesaving bill. By creating a national HPV awareness campaign tailored to the needs of the many vulnerable populations and expanding funding for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection initiative, this life-saving bill will help prevent millions of infections that can cause cancer and save over 37,000 lives annually.
Through our research and advocacy, we are acutely aware of the low rates of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations and cervical cancer screening among the rural, LGBTQIA+, low-income, and minority populations, and as such, support life-saving initiatives for HPV vaccine awareness and cervical cancer early detection. Contact us if you need help finding your legislators to call-in for your support.
Our letter to the Ways and Means Committee:
Our thank you letter to Rep. Castor (D), Rep. Letlow (R), Rep. Schrier & Rep. Schultz (D):
CA School-based Healthcare, Youth Reinvestment Grant, AB 912 Strategic Anti-Violence Funding (SAFE) Act (2023)
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Teens for Vaccines proudly joins CA School-Based Health Alliance to support AB 912, the SAFE Act, The bill will reinvest cost savings from prison closures into much-needed youth programs that reduce violence, provide diversion opportunities, and deliver critical community supports including mental health, education and vocational services. Contact us or call Governor Newsom today!
Arin Parsa testifying in support of AB 659
Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, University of California Santa Cruz
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins the Office of Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, CA Vaccines Legislative Workgroup, to support AB 659. The bill will make HPV vaccine recommendation a state public policy, require schools to disseminate materials to parents of students entering 8th grade, and increase insurance coverage for the vaccines.
Arin Parsa's Testimony to CA Assembly Health Committee
April 18, 2023, Sacramento, CA
"Good morning, honorable members of the Assembly Health Committee.
My name is Arin Parsa. I am a tenth-grader from San Jose and I am the founder of Teens for Vaccines, a youth organization with ambassadors across many states in the U.S., promoting life-saving vaccines and encouraging parent-teen conversations so all teens can lead healthy lives without worrying about preventable diseases.
I’m here today to voice my strong support for Assembly Bill 659 so students like me can live without the fear of HPV, a cancer-causing deadly virus. HPV vaccine prevents cancer but our rates in California among teens especially in rural and low-income counties are really low, less than 30%, nowhere close to 80% that we aspire for.
I got my two doses of HPV vaccine when I was in middle school because I was fortunate to have routine WellCare doctor visits to keep all my immunizations up-to-date. But not all teens are as fortunate as I am. Some families are unaware that the HPV vaccine is most effective when administered to young people 9 - 12 years of age. Other families simply can’t afford the vaccine. With Assembly Bill 659 requiring all public and private health insurance programs to cover the costs of vaccinating for HPV, we have a real opportunity to close long-standing inequities that affect so many teens.
I founded Teens for Vaccines when I was in seventh grade during the 2019 measles outbreaks. To me, it was shocking and gut-wrenching that children and teens in modern times still faced threats from the same diseases plaguing us 50 and even 100 years ago. Since then, I have been tirelessly advocating for every child’s right to life-saving vaccines and healthcare.
With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging our communities for over two years now, routine vaccination rates have fallen to dangerous levels. We know that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, infecting about 13 million people, including teens, each year. There is undeniable evidence that left untreated, the HPV infection leads to cancer. Knowing that a safe and effective life-saving HPV vaccine is available—one that has saved millions of lives since 2006—we must protect every teen in California.
It is time we take action. It is time we make reproductive health equity, and AB 659, a priority.
We have tremendous leadership here in California and we have shown in the past that we can forge the path and set an example. It’s time to pass AB 659, Cancer Prevention Act, so we teens can live healthy and happy lives without worrying about HPV. I strongly urge the committee to vote Yes on the bill. Thank you." -- Arin Parsa
Recording of Assembly Health Committee hearings for April 18, 2023 can be found here.
Teens for Vaccines Support Letter for AB 659, Cancer Prevention Act
HUGE WIN! Teens for Vaccines thanks New York Governor Hochul for signing the historic legislative package to address healthcare disparities in the LGBTQIA+ youth community!
Legislation (A.9604/S.8937) Authorizes Runaway and Homeless Youth Under 18 Receiving Support Services To Consent to their Medical, Dental, Health, and Hospital Care
Legislation (A.1880A/S.2534A) Requires Home Health Aides and Nurse's Aides To Receive Training in Working with Patients of Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities
"Every member of the LGBTQ+ community deserves health care that is available, accessible, and equitable," Governor Hochul said. "It is critical that we create a more welcoming, inclusive, and affirming health care environment in order to improve health care outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly vulnerable youth. We will continue to press forward in the fight for LGBTQ+ equity in New York State."
According to a 2020 study by UCLA Williams Institute, 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ and over 20% of them are under the age of 18. Governor Hochul's legislative package to allow runaway and homeless minors to self-consent to life-saving healthcare, while also requiring health aides and nurse's aides to receive training will help so many teens who are living in fear, sadless, and isolation. We at Teens for Vaccines are incredibly grateful for the leadership in the NY legislature!
* https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-signs-legislative-package-address-health-care-disparities-lgbtq-community
* https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/LGBT-Homelessness-May-2020.pdf
#lgbtq🌈 #equity #healthcare #newyork #nyc #teens #consent #law
Teens for Vaccines is a proud co-sponsor of SB 866 "Teens Choose Vaccines Act," a bill that will allow California minors 12 years and older to consent to life-saving vaccination. SB 866 builds on existing law, which currently allows minors 12 and over to make choices about their bodies around reproductive healthcare. SB 866 protects the ability of young people to live healthy lives, helps keep schools open and safe, increases vaccination rates, and promotes public health in California. https://sd11.senate.ca.gov/sb866
Update: The bill is amended to increase age of content to 15 YO. Contact us to register your support for the bill.
Arin Parsa's speech during the press conference on SB 866
"Thank you Senator Wiener, Senator Dr. Pan, and fellow youth leaders. Hello everyone my name is Arin Parsa. I am a ninth-grader from San Jose, and I am the founder of Teens for Vaccines, a youth organization with ambassadors across many states in the U.S., promoting the life-saving power of vaccines and empowering teens to get vaccinated.
I founded Teens for Vaccines during the 2019 measles outbreaks, when many distraught teens of vaccine-hesitant and anti-vax parents were going to Reddit and other social media to know how to get vaccines to protect themselves. During this time, Brooke Balck, a ten-year-old in Orange County, a few hours away from where I live, couldn’t get vaccinated due to a heart transplant. She couldn’t go to school because the measles vaccination rates were so low in Orange County with some parents refusing to get their children vaccinated. To me, it was shocking and gut-wrenching that children and teens in modern times still faced threats from the same diseases plaguing us 50 and even 100 years ago. Since then, I have been tirelessly advocating for every child’s right to life-saving vaccines and healthcare.
With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging our communities for over two years now and we are facing incessant waves of the virus, the crisis faced by teens of vaccine-hesitant and anti-vax parents has only gotten worse! Because they can’t get the vaccine, teens live in fear and isolation, not knowing if they might infect their grandparents or younger siblings or may catch COVID themselves and miss school, friends, and family. It has been devastating for me to see so many teens live in sadness for a life-saving vaccine that the rest of us fortunate teens can easily get. COVID-19 is taking their happiness and futures away…
We cannot ignore this crisis anymore. We cannot sit on the sidelines while so many teens are suffering and unable to access life-saving vaccines and healthcare they need.
COVID has also highlighted significant inequities. So many teens have parents who work two jobs and teens can’t keep up their doctor visits and get vaccinations due to lack of transportation. Teens need easy access to vaccines in schools, after-school activity centers, and pharmacies. HPV is a preventable cancer but our rates in California especially in rural counties are in the single digits, nowhere close to 80% that we aspire for! Every year we lose so many healthy teens to flu and meningitis. And COVID continues to claim teen lives and futures. It is time we take action.
It is time we remove barriers for teens to get life-saving vaccines and healthcare. It is time we recognize that it is not only a public health issue but also a severe mental health issue when teens don’t have basic rights to protect themselves from deadly diseases.
We have tremendous leadership here in California and we have shown in the past that we can forge the path and set an example. It’s time to pass the Teens Choose Vaccines Act so teens can live healthy and happy lives without worrying about preventable diseases. Let’s do the right thing. Thank you." -- Arin Parsa
#SenatorWiener #SenatorDrPan #minorconsent #California #vaccines #COVID #CrushCOVID #keepschoolsopen
Teens for Vaccines Proudly Co-Sponsors SB 871 “Keep Schools Open and Safe Act.” Teens statewide are facing mental health issues due to severe isolation from friends. We need to get back to school. Also, we teens are not a low-risk group. Science-based evidence proves that transmission rates are higher among those unvaccinated. As COVID-19 rates continue to rise, this bill will require students to receive at least 1 dose of the vaccine for school enrollment.
If you care about the mental toll that teens are facing due to COVID-19, we NEED you to take action and call us to support this bill.
Questions by KSBY reporter and Arin Parsa's responses on why SB 871 must pass.
Why do you feel this bill is necessary?
I deeply believe that keeping schools safe and open is very much needed for both our physical health as well as mental health. COVID-19 pandemic has been ravaging our schools for over two years now and we are facing incessant waves of the virus. We still have over a million students not yet vaccinated and we need schools to be a safe place, especially for the immunocompromised children who are at severe risk from COVID and underserved youth for whom distance learning is inequitable.
We know that vaccines are safe and effective and that mandates work. LAUSD is a shining example with a 90% vaccination rate with 600 thousand students with no school closures. For both our physical and mental health, we need to pass this bill.
What is the student reaction around this bill, to your knowledge?
Students absolutely support this bill. It has been over two years living in this roller coaster of a pandemic. Just when we thought last summer when the rates were going down, we were hit with the Delta variant and then Omicron in the Winter close to New Year when we were celebrating 2022. Teens and students are fatigued and fed up. It is time people stop denying the science and data, and get vaccinated, wear masks, and keep schools open, so we can get ahead of this virus and crush COVID and get our lives back and keep schools open!
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins CA Vaccines Legislative Workgroup for supporting AB 2516. This is a lifesaving bill that will require health insurance coverage for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine without cost-sharing and include this cost-effective vaccine as a covered benefit in Family PACT Medi- Cal program, guaranteeing complete coverage for the HPV vaccine regardless of insurance coverage or status.
We realize that the bill will mean budget appropriations. The state will always have budget pressures--but when will we prioritize HPV cancer prevention and elimination? For far too long, stigma and misinformation have hampered vaccinations. Let cost of the vaccine not be yet another barrier! Contact us for registering your support for the bill.
CA Immunization Registry Update for Tracking Student Health Equity, AB 1797 (2022) - NOW LAW!
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Teens for Vaccines proudly joins CA Vaccines Legislative Workgroup to support Assemblymember Weber’s health equity bill AB 1797. This bill helps schools verify student vaccine records, requiring the collection of race and ethnicity information in immunization data into CA Immunization Registry.
We know COVID-19 has brought out systemic inequities that exist in vaccine access in disadvantaged communities. Without tracking the data, how can we be assured that the public health measures are commensurate? Contact us to register your support for the bill.
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins CA Vaccines Legislative Workgroup to support AB 2098. It is time we designate the dissemination or promotion of disinformation related to COVID-19 as unprofessional conduct in CA. At Teens for Vaccines, we are big believers in open discourse between doctors and healthcare providers and vaccine-hesitant families, but we are against outright disinformation with no scientific basis and lobbyists promoting anecdotal stories as fact since these are harmful for communities. We have also seen this pattern of anti-vaccine lobbyists influencing doctors and parents since the 2019 measles outbreaks. Remember SB 276, the bill to ban fraudulent medical exemptions as immunocompromised students were forced to stay at home? We ask for your support for this bill to curb rampant vaccine disinformation swaying parents and families.
Teens for Vaccines proudly joins the SAFE Communities Coalition to oppose HB 573. This bill undermines teen rights and binds the hands of public health experts in Louisiana to educate youth for making informed decisions on vaccines. If passed, this bill will prohibit outreach by the Louisiana Department of Health to encourage minors to get vaccinated. Not only does this undermine the authority of state public health experts, but also the general consensus of the medical community.
Louisiana already has mature minor laws that allow minors to consent to their own medical care. HB 573 promotes a dangerous information vacuum where minors may not have the opportunity to be exposed to useful information to make evidence-based decisions. This impedes true informed consent.
Arin Parsa's Testimony on Youth Vaccine Inequities
Hello, everyone! Thank you, Dr. Nunez-Smith and the White House, for the opportunity to speak here today.
I’m Arin Parsa from California, and I am the founder of Teens for Vaccines. We are a youth collective with ambassadors across many states in the U.S. working tirelessly to educate and empower teens to get their COVID and routine vaccinations and lobbying school boards for COVID-19 safety measures. I’m also researching the factors affecting adolescent vaccine rates since the 2019 measles outbreaks.
When I think of vaccine equity for teens, I envision all teens having access to vaccines (including rural teens and under-resourced teens). I also envision all teens to be able to self-consent to them.
Today, teens face many barriers. They often lack easy access to vaccinations, especially when parents are busy or working multiple jobs, and transportation is an issue. School-based health clinics can be a game-changer, providing a platform for teens to get vaccinated. Teachers can also play a significant role by incorporating vaccine science into their classes and curriculum. Education is the best antidote for misinformation. Given that parental hesitancy is a significant barrier, schools, nurses, and doctors can be powerful advocates, bridging the gap in conversations between teens and their parents.
Finally, not only do we have a patchwork of minor consent laws, but certain states have layered on parental consent specifically for the COVID vaccine. More needs to be done to make legislators science-aware and to contain disinformation that is swaying a lot of people out there on social media.
Ultimately, as the post-COVID era is dawning on us, teens need to be heard and empowered to get vaccinated and be champions of public health so we can overcome vaccine hesitancy and make the world a safer place.
Once again, I want to thank you, Dr. Nunez-Smith, and the White House for the opportunity to speak here today, and thank you all for listening!
Teens for Vaccines applauds Governor Newsom for signing SB 742 into law for protecting people’s right to vaccinate.
SB 742, authored by Senator Dr. Pan and sponsored by ProtectUS, gives local officials the tools they need to keep extremists from harassing and intimidating patients and front-line workers when getting the vaccine.-
“People shouldn’t be harassed when they are trying to get a life-saving vaccine. We can protect speech and our right to be safely vaccinated,” said Crystal Strait of ProtectUS.
Teens for Vaccines ambassadors had called in for supporting SB 742 on June 29, 2021, when the bill was introduced in the CA Assembly. Teens for Vaccines also issued a position letter of support as we believed that the right to vaccinate without intimidation is equally important as the right to free speech and the right to protest. Over the past few months, as the Delta variant surged, so did rampant disinformation and extreme anti-vax violence and intimidation at vaccination clinics, putting at risk the safety of front-line health care workers and citizens who were trying to get the saving COVID-vaccine. The Dodger stadium incident in Los Angeles was only one of many throughout the nation.
“We students applaud Gov. Newsom for his fearless leadership and signing SB742 into law--sending a clear message that obstruction and intimidation by antivaxxers at vaccine clinics will no longer be tolerated. As much as the right to free speech and protest are important, the right to be vaccinated to protect ourselves without getting bullied is equally important. SB742 also protects the safety of the healthcare workers who are tirelessly volunteering at the clinics. We are also very thankful to ProtectUS for allowing students to speak to legislators in support of SB742. We are incredibly thrilled that SB742 is now law and are proud contributors to this historic moment! We sincerely hope other states soon follow through as well,” said Arin Parsa, 14 years old, 9th grade in San Jose, California and Founder of Teens for Vaccines.
Teens for Vaccines student partner organization, GENup also spoke up in support of SB 742 becoming law. “We deeply appreciate Governor Newsom standing up for people who wish to protect themselves, their families and their community. The pandemic has shown us that far too many people face a wide variety of barriers to getting the health care they need and we cannot allow obstruction, intimidation, hostility to be additional barriers,” said Kimiya Attar, 17 years old, 12th grade in Fresno, California and Co-Director of Innovation and Strategy of GENup.
Teens for Vaccines proudly supports SB 276 to create a safer environment in schools because the regulation of exemptions will restore vaccines rates to above 95%. SB 276 will allow immunocompromised students like Brooke Balck, who had a heart transplant and forced to homeschool, to enjoy education like the rest of us.
Sadly, vaccination rates are dropping due to the rise of medical exemptions for vaccinations. This wave of medical exemptions is based on of anti-vaccine CA physicians giving out inappropriate medical exemptions to families who want personal belief exemptions, latter no longer allowed in California since the passing of SB 276 in 2015 as a counter measure after the deadly measles outbreak in Disney theme parks. These doctors, though few in number, can lead to serious harm in communities, where their practices can cause outbreaks of lethal, vaccine-preventable diseases.
Fraudulent exemptions have led to vaccination rates dangerously decreasing in Californian kindergartens per data from Shots for School that collects and reports immunization compliance from schools in California. We need at least 95% of us vaccinated in a school to provide herd immunity to those who legitimately cannot take vaccines.
There is a lot of debate about why the state needs to be involved, and why the California Medical Board couldn’t just go after the bad doctors. Some parents are also upset that state stepping in between doctor-patient relationship is a slippery slope. Assaults were also made on Dr. Richard Pan, California Senator and the author of both the bills.
Teens for Vaccines urges everyone to support SB 276 and sign the petition at Vaccinate California. SB276 will create a safer environment in schools for us students.