From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— UW-Madison students are now required to disclose their vaccination status for a handful of diseases by March 12 or face a registration hold, according to a new university policy.
Under the policy, students who are not vaccinated or do not have proof of immunity “may be required to take additional public health measures in the case of a communicable disease outbreak on campus.”
That could include quarantine, isolation, or limited access to campus facilities, services, classrooms, events and campus jobs, according to a university webpage.
UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas told WisPolitics the requirement will help bolster the university’s communicable disease response amid reports of highly infectious diseases in the U.S. and on college campuses.
“Access to immunization data gives public health officials a better understanding of our students’ immunity and ensures faster, specific support for individual students who are at a higher risk when exposed to communicable diseases,” Lucas said. “With the recent measles case on campus, this need is more urgent and UW-Madison is taking swift action to implement this requirement as soon as possible.”
So far this year, the state Department of Health Services has reported two confirmed cases of measles among Wisconsin residents.
Lucas noted that while some university programs or activities require vaccination, the new policy does not mandate any vaccinations.
The new disclosure requirement applies to vaccinations for: measles, mumps and rubella; tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis; varicella; meningococcal; and hepatitis B.
In an email yesterday, university leaders said students will have to upload their vaccination records or submit a confirmation that they are unvaccinated, with no explanation required.
The university is using a new online platform called MedProctor where students can report their status. Those who have already shared their vaccination records through MyUHS will have them automatically sent to the platform.
GOP chairs of the Legislature’s committees overseeing universities did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new policy.
— The Assembly has voted along party lines to send a bill defining a broad avenue for patients to sue practitioners providing gender-affirming care.
The bill now goes to the governor.
SB 405 would create a civil cause of action for individuals who receive gender-affirming care before the age of 18 to sue their medical provider for physical, psychological or emotional injuries.
Democrats criticized the bill as an attack on transgender people meant to score political points.
Rep. Andrew Hysell, D-Sun Prairie, said the bill sought to create a double standard for gender-affirming care under medical malpractice statutes. He noted it lacked caps on some damages and allowed for a much longer statute of limitations than other malpractice lawsuits.
He said this was to discourage practitioners from offering this care.
“You’re not trying to keep people safe from negligent care, you’re trying to eliminate that kind of care,” Hysell said yesterday.
Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of pushing “detransitioners” into the shadows and covering for practitioners motivated by profit rather than their patients’ best interest.
“SB 405 says children are not science experiments. It says they are not collateral damage for a multi-billion dollar industry, and it says that medical professionals must be held to the same level of care here as in pretty much every other area of medicine,” said Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, who sponsored the bill in the Assembly.
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