St. Clair Says ‘Nope’ to State Hurdles — Online Exemptions Now Live
- Apr 11
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 13
St. Clair County just became the first in Michigan to offer a fully online vaccine exemption process — and parents are already breathing easier. No more unnecessary trips to the health department or extra bureaucratic nonsense. Families can now complete the entire process from home and receive a certified exemption by email within five business days. For now, this is ONLY for residents of St. Clair County. Michigan for Vaccine Choice will be working to ensure that the rest of the state's medical directors are encouraged to follow this example. If this were to happen, it would be the first standardization of the waiver process across the state.
Dr. Remington Nevin, the county’s medical director and the man Bridge Michigan dubbed “Michigan’s ‘RFK Jr.,’” made it happen. An epidemiologist with multiple degrees from Johns Hopkins, former U.S. Army major, and preventive medicine officer, Nevin has been shaking things up at the St. Clair County Health Department since 2023.
“Michigan law has always protected parents’ right to nonmedical exemptions,” Nevin told The Defender in an exclusive interview Thursday. “All we did was strip away the bureaucratic friction the state layered on top to discourage families from using a right they already had.”
“Too many local health departments across Michigan act like their real boss sits in Lansing instead of the people who actually pay their salaries,” he added. “We’re doing something different here in St. Clair County, and people can feel it.”
Last spring, Nevin took his fight for parental rights to the state level, speaking in support of pro-vaccine choice legislation aimed at protecting families from further restrictions on exemptions. See the full press conference below:
Since taking the helm in St. Clair, he has focused sharply on parental rights and informed consent. He’s made it easier for parents to opt kids out of school-based vaccine requirements, supported families who want to opt out of state immunization data tracking, proposed removing fluoride from the drinking water, and ended the county’s participation in the state’s school-based health clinic program.
Last month, The Associated Press tried to paint it as giving the department a “‘MAGA’ makeover.” Nevin doesn’t flinch. He embraces the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) mission — but as real reform, not a slogan.
“It means building a health department the community actually trusts,” he said, “one that reflects the values and priorities of the people it serves, follows the science honestly rather than selectively, and treats families as capable of making decisions for themselves.”
Kevin Watkins, a nurse and president of the Port Huron branch of the NAACP, told the AP the changes are “anti-vaccine” and “anti-public health.” Nevin pushed back clearly: “Nothing about this is anti-vaccine. It’s pro-choice and it’s pro-trust. Vaccines remain available to every family that wants them.”
The two men, who’ve shared the public health advisory board in the past, still end up in long, friendly conversations after meetings. “That’s one of the underrated gifts of a small county like St. Clair,” Nevin said. “Your political opponents are also your neighbors.”
Eagles need to be free to soar
Nevin moved back to Michigan from Vermont after his father passed to be closer to family. Living near an eagle sanctuary there inspired a powerful analogy he included in the county’s annual report. Caged eagles often lived longer with medicine and safety, but they weren’t truly thriving. “The nature of eagles is to soar free,” he said. “The cost of that safety was their freedom.” Public health, Nevin argues, must honestly weigh what greater “safety” can cost human freedom — especially a family’s right to make their own medical decisions.
Public health captured by powerful interests
With his impressive credentials — medical licenses in several states, board certifications in occupational medicine, public health, and preventive medicine, plus a master’s and doctorate from Johns Hopkins — Nevin brings serious weight to the fight. His research on the serious side effects of the anti-malaria drug mefloquine even helped push the U.S., Canadian, British, and Irish militaries to stop using it.
Those experiences showed him how public health institutions can be swayed by “powerful and complicated interests” that don’t always put ordinary families first. “I saw very clearly how institutions at the highest levels — national departments of defense working with major pharmaceutical companies — could manipulate the system and manufacture doubt to protect their own reputations,” he said.
“My adversaries are grieving”
Nevin believes many critics are simply grieving the loss of control they once held. “Public health in Michigan has largely been captured by left-wing Democratic interests who push for the growth of the managerial state — often against the interests of families and conservative religious voters,” he said. “They could count on public health giving their partisan positions a veneer of scientific authority and non-debatability.”
He says his background creates cognitive dissonance for them. “You can almost see the smoke coming out of their ears.”
Nevin insists he’s not partisan — he’s simply representing the people of St. Clair County, who happen to be mostly Republican.
He’s watched critics move through the stages of grief and remains optimistic: “We are just getting started.”
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