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June 24th I rolled a dolly containing 6,000 sheets of paper, representing the signatures on Free Now Foundation’s petition to Governor Newsom to make vaccination voluntary again. I delivered all the signatures and a letter to Newsom that day. Below is the letter.

While we had hoped to get more signatures, we relied only on word-of-mouth and our email list, didn’t pay for any petition-signing services, dealt with the petition URL being labeled “unsafe” on most browsers, and were faced with social media companies blocking and shadow-banning the petition.

We delivered the signatures when I went to Sacramento to protest Mia Bonta’s bill, AB 2651— aka the School Stasi Snitch Culture Bill.

We are contacting federal officials to ask for their help in California.

Alix Mayer

President & Board Chair

Free Now Foundation
50 Woodside Plaza #417
Redwood City, CA 94061

Jun 24, 2026

Governor Gavin Newsom

Office of the Governor
1303 10th Street, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

Subject: Urgent Appeal from 5,987 California Families: Restore Vaccine Choice and End the Hard Mandate for California’s Children

Dear Governor Newsom,

Today, on behalf of 5,987 California families who signed a petition to make vaccination voluntary again, (valid signatures enclosed) we respectfully urge you to restore vaccination as a voluntary decision for parents. California families deserve the fundamental right to make informed medical choices for their children.

For decades, California operated under a soft mandate that respected parental judgment. Until 2015, families could work with their pediatricians to determine the best path forward. Vaccine uptake remained strong because most parents willingly vaccinate. No catastrophic public health crises occurred. Notably, the state has declared zero measles public health emergencies, even during the 2014 and 2019 outbreaks.

That balanced approach changed with hard mandates. Today, California enforces one of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the nation, demanding over 30 doses for many children. This rigid policy leaves no room for families with legitimate concerns, particularly those who have already experienced vaccine injury or fear it for their vulnerable children.

These fears are not unfounded. In California, 266 children have been reported dead following vaccination, with 21 of those deaths reported after a measles-containing vaccine (see attached Exhibits). A 2026 study by Cosgrove et al. analyzed VAERS data and found a 2,657% higher count of reported deaths associated with the measles vaccine compared to measles infection itself. Similar patterns likely apply across the childhood schedule. Far more reported deaths follow vaccination than follow the targeted infections.

Deaths represent only one dimension. Vaccine injuries are real and have cost the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program more than $5.3 billion.

California now leads the nation in autism rates, with more than 50% of cases in 1- to 3-year-olds occurring within two days of vaccination.

Our schools serve approximately 830,000 IEP students– 13.5% of all students– straining resources and families.

Nearly 80% of SIDS deaths occur within a week of vaccination. Every day, one California couple finds their baby dead of SIDS.

Your policies have intensified this crisis:

• SB 276 (2019) replaced a functional medical exemption system with one designed to fail, effectively creating de facto mandatory vaccination for most families.
• AB 144 (signed September 2025) established a California-only vaccine schedule, decoupled from updated CDC recommendations (e.g., COVID vaccines remain recommended by pediatricians in California despite federal changes). It centralizes power in the Department of Public Health, reduces transparency, bypasses parental and physician input, and grants broad liability protections—undermining informed consent.

Your efforts to “Trump-proof” vaccine policy through AB 144 have come at a steep cost to California’s children.

Furthermore, California public schools routinely misinform parents of IEP students, despite California Health & Safety Code § 120335(h) explicitly guaranteeing vaccine choice for these children.

Governor Newsom, California parents have reached a breaking point. These outcomes trace directly to decisions made under your administration. The data on rising chronic conditions, special education needs, and reported harms speak for themselves.

Our informal research shows that most families who have left California since 2020 aren’t just moving; they’re making radical, life-altering decisions. They’re willingly uprooting careers, severing social networks, and starting over from scratch in new states, all driven by one overriding priority: to educate their children in safety, away from your vaccine mandates.

Given the facts, we shouldn’t even need to ask you to restore vaccine choice to California families. You have enough information to do the right thing.

Restore parental choice. Return to the proven soft mandate model that protected public health without destroying families. Allow California’s aggrieved and bereaved parents the right to safeguard their children. California’s children deserve better than a one-size-fits-all policy that ignores individual risk and real-world harms.

Here is a quick reference chart of what your policies have done to our children:

California, by the numbers:

9 Years since California parents could refuse vaccination for their vulnerable children (SB277, Governor Brown)

5 Years since we had a functioning medical exemption (SB276, your doing)

116K Additional California students with an IEP since 2014 (Special Ed)

2+ Boys with autism, per California classroom, 2025

1 California couple finds their baby dead of SIDS, per day

0 Number of people who need a vaccine to make another’s vaccine work

Governor Newsom: Suspend Vaccine Mandates TODAY to Protect California’s Vulnerable Children

We have asked public officials from California to Washington, DC to help you do the right thing: Make Vaccination Voluntary Again in California.

End hard vaccine mandates, now.

We have asked each of these public officials to expose what you have done to California’s children, and pressure you to Make Vaccination Voluntary Again in California:

• U.S. Congressman Kevin Kiley: Make public your missteps in emails.

• CDPH Director Pan & Superintendent Thurmond: Halt enforcement of vaccine mandates and tell parents of IEP students the truth about their vaccine choice rights, per California Health & Saf. Code, § 120335(h).

• President Trump, HHS Secretary Kennedy, Senator Ron Johnson, Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon, and DOE Secretary McMahon: Pressure you to roll back AB144 and end vaccine mandates due to the chronic disease and learning crisis in California children, myriad due process violations and the growing federal expense of educating California’s special ed (IEP) students ($14B/year).

Despite our grievances, we are willing to amicably resolve this issue. Please set up a meeting with me at your earliest convenience.

Yours in medical freedom,

Alix Mayer

President & Board Chair

Free Now Foundation

California’s Leading Medical Freedom Law Non-Profit

freenowfoundation.org

[email protected]