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Medical freedom and parental rights face a growing threat in Hawaii — with implications that extend far beyond the islands, Kauai County Councilmember Felicia Cowden told CHD.TV this week.
Cowden criticized Gov. Josh Green’s emergency proclamation that allows pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccines to anyone age 3 and older without a doctor’s prescription.
Green’s proclamation came in direct response to 2025 federal vaccine guidance that emphasized individual decision-making, parental involvement and informed consent, Cowden said.
“We’re not livestock and it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation,” Cowden said.
The proclamation is set to expire Jan. 17. Green already extended the order once, and critics expect another extension as the deadline approaches.
“I would be shocked if Green didn’t reauthorize this ridiculous order,” said Michael Kane, director of advocacy for Children’s Health Defense (CHD).
The governor’s office did not return a request for comment on a possible extension.
Parental involvement framed as emergency
The emergency proclamation reveals a fundamental conflict over who controls children’s medical decisions — parents or the state, according to Cowden.
Hawaii declared an emergency after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee voted that “parents should be involved in deciding if the child could get a COVID-19 shot,” she said.
Treating parental involvement as a crisis is “beyond the pale,” Cowden said.
She emphasized that the shift is about informed consent and active engagement, not opposition to vaccination. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “isn’t saying don’t get vaccinated, he’s saying, get engaged and let’s make the vaccine safe,” she told CHD.TV.
Cowden said the COVID-19 pandemic changed how families approach medical mandates.
“Parents have really started to look deeply at what goes into the vaccines.” Cowden cited a surge in reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) after the rollout of COVID-19 shots.
“For a child who would really easily manage right through that illness,” Cowden said, it makes little sense to be “forcing this on families and kids.”
Shift to informed consent triggers ‘disaster’
Green issued the emergency proclamation after the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted Sept. 19, 2025, to move COVID-19 vaccination to a shared clinical decision-making framework.
The shift requires healthcare providers to discuss potential harms before administering the shot.
In the original proclamation, Green wrote: “I, Josh Green, M.D., Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, hereby determine that an emergency or disaster … has occurred in the State of Hawai‘i.”
The order states that the ACIP vote “caused confusion and hesitancy amongst healthcare providers to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Using emergency authority, Green temporarily suspended portions of state law to allow pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 vaccines without a prescription to anyone over age 3, when not medically contraindicated.
Originally set to expire Nov. 22, 2025, the proclamation was extended on Nov. 18 through Jan. 17, 2026.
Hawaii lawmakers revive bills Cowden calls ‘a real big taking of parents’ rights’
The emergency order coincides with renewed legislative efforts in Hawaii that critics say further weaken parental rights.
State lawmakers reintroduced House Bill 1118 and Senate Bill 1437, which would eliminate non-medical exemptions — including religious exemptions — from Hawaii’s school vaccine requirements.
Similar measures stalled during the 2025 legislative session. But Cowden warned that the 2026 bills could advance rapidly with little public scrutiny.
“If people aren’t paying attention, it could potentially pass quickly,” she said. “And this is for all schools: private, parochial, preschool, public. So that is a real big taking of parents’ rights.”
Kane said Hawaii would likely face serious constitutional challenges if it eliminated religious exemptions, citing recent litigation over religious freedom and vaccine mandates.
In December 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling against Amish parents and school leaders who challenged New York’s school vaccine mandates. The Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to reconsider the case. Attorneys said the decision could affect states that bar religious exemptions.
That same month, CHD and several parents sued New York, arguing the state’s 2019 repeal of religious exemptions violates the U.S. Constitution.
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‘A sea change’: Counties mobilize around parental rights and health policy
Cowden said advocates are also pursuing change nationally through county governments, including the National Association of Counties (NACo). The organization represents thousands of county officials and serves as a major voice in federal policymaking.
As a member of NACo’s Human Services and Education Steering Committee, Cowden said she hopes to present two resolutions addressing parental rights and childhood chronic illness.
“There are many health resolutions that are coming forward. We’re having a sea change,” Cowden said.
Interim resolutions may be considered at NACo’s Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., Feb. 21-24. NACo could take up full resolutions at its annual conference, scheduled for July in Louisiana.
Cowden said she hopes federal health officials will engage directly in the conversation. The Washington event typically draws the president and members of the cabinet. She said she hopes leaders “show up and help move the discussion forward.”
One of Cowden’s proposals would affirm parents’ rights to individual-based medical decision-making with healthcare providers and oppose incentives that undermine informed consent — an approach that aligns with recent federal policy shifts.
In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved six vaccines out of the universally recommended category and into the shared decision-making category.
In August 2025, HHS announced that the federal government would no longer financially reward hospitals for reporting employee vaccination rates.
A separate resolution put forth to NACo would support federal efforts to identify and reduce the root causes of childhood chronic disease.
A recent report by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission pointed to ultraprocessed foods, environmental toxins, over-medicalization, the childhood vaccine schedule, sedentary lifestyles and corporate lobbying as major contributors.
Momentum is building, Cowden said. “This is something that is vibrant across the nation, and the time has come.”
Watch the interview on CHD.TV here:
- Hawaii Kills Bill to End Vaccine Exemptions After Massive Pushback From Public
- ‘Checkmate’: U.S. Supreme Court Delivers Huge Win for Religious Exemptions
- 8 States Weigh Bills to Establish or Expand Exemptions to School Vaccine Mandates
- Lawyers: U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Religious Exemptions a Big Win — But Decision Is ‘Far From’ Final
- HHS Just Gave Parents More Say in Their Kids’ Vaccines — And the Vaccine Establishment Is Running Scared
