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posted by janrinok on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the greater-good dept.

foxnews.com/us/states-seek-to-cut-off-religious-exemptions-for-vaccination

Connecticut's Attorney General gave state lawmakers the legal go-ahead Monday to pursue legislation that would prevent parents from exempting their children from vaccinations for religious reasons, a move that several states are considering amid a significant measles outbreak.

The non-binding ruling from William Tong, a Democrat, was released the same day public health officials in neighboring New York called on state legislators there to pass similar legislation . Most of the cases in the current outbreak have been in New York state.

[...] Connecticut is just one of several states considering whether to end longstanding laws that allow people to opt out of vaccinations for religious purposes. In the face of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, some have alleged religious exemptions have been abused by "anti-vaxxers" who believe vaccines are harmful despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

But the proposals to eliminate the opt-outs have also sparked emotional debates about religious freedom and the rights of parents.

Most religions have no prohibitions against vaccinations, according to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee. Yet the number of people seeking the religious exemption in Connecticut has been consistently climbing. There were 316 issued during the 2003-04 school year, compared to 1,255 in the 2017-18 school year.

[...] All 50 states have laws requiring students to have certain vaccinations. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, all but Mississippi, West Virginia and California grant religious exemptions. As of Jan. 30, the conference said 17 states allowed people to exempt their children for personal, moral or other philosophical beliefs.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by JNCF on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:59PM (2 children)

    by JNCF (4317) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:59PM (#840878) Journal

    Go build your own city far from us if you want to live by your rules.

    You do understand that people try this and eventually get encroached-upon by your militaristic society, right? I'm not aware of Native American or Mormon anti-vaxxer movements, but if such movements did exist would you give those people exemptions based on the fact that they actually did exactly what you are suggesting many generations before you suggested it, and were subsequently invaded by your government?

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:53PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:53PM (#840960) Journal

    I suppose a wall could be built.

    (ducks, hides under desk)

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by JNCF on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:53PM

      by JNCF (4317) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:53PM (#841027) Journal

      Somehow I doubt that you bureaucracy-loving-big-government-types are actually willing to grant Utah independence if they build a wall around the state. Maybe my skepticism comes from that time you invaded them and forced them to live under your laws ever since? I dunno, I'll have to thdrink on it.