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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: 4, Interesting) by ikanreed on Wednesday May 08 2019, @08:08PM (7 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2019, @08:08PM (#840967) Journal

    Sadly, yes. There are several religions that are against vaccination of children.

    Christian Scientists feel that medicine in general represents a failure to trust in god to save you, and vaccines in particular are distrusting god in advance of you being even sick.

    Some Jehovah's witnesses(though far from all) teach that injections of any kind are a violation of the religion's code against "mixing blood".

    The New York branch of the current measles outbreak is mostly located in insular ultra-super-ohmygodsomuch Orthdox Jewish communities, who, while not explicitly teaching that God dislikes vaccines in any way, do teach a distrust of outsiders, outside authority, and outside institutions, which leads to people not getting school-required vaccines because they don't go to public school, and not going to outside doctors and following standard pediatric guidelines, because those are outsiders, making for a de facto low vaccination rate.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:01PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:01PM (#840995) Journal

    That is interesting. Thank you.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:03PM (#840999)

    It is also self-reinforcing. The guidance from the rebbes in the Halakha (in super-duper basic form) is that you should follow the customs of your community as long as they don't violate the mitzvot. But, because the community they live in is so restricted, not only do they not have to vaccinate, because no one else does. I've also seen arguments that they are forbidden from vaccinating because that would go against the customs of the community they are in.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:43PM (1 child)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:43PM (#841022)

    "... do teach a distrust of outsiders, outside authority, and outside institutions, ..."

    And this dear friends is WHY there are so many problems in the world today.

    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:50PM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:50PM (#841025)

    Am I correct in thinking that some of the ultra-conservative Jewish groups also oppose vaccines because at some point in the process pigs were involved?

    I think I may have read that somewhere, but could be wrong.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @07:02PM (#841481)

      Vaccines have all sorts of non-Kosher ingredients. However, there are two major exceptions to the Kosher rule.

      First is that you can have non-Kosher substances injected into you because the prohibition only applies to things you eat. This is the rule that allowed smallpox vaccination originally (which contained rat blood cells) and also allows other routes of medical intervention, such as non-Kosher foods being put in feeding tubes.

      Second, the law requires taking steps to preserve life, so you can violate the other rules if doing so is necessary to protect human life. This is was also historically used to allow smallpox vaccination (which at the time had an overall complication rate of 0.1%), as well as allowing gelatin products when ordered by a doctor (usually after surgery) or medications like insulin.

  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:11PM

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:11PM (#841042)

    Sadly, yes. There are several religions that are against vaccination of children.

    Facepalm at these idiots. It's 2019 and there are still shitheads in this country that seriously believe this crap.

    Someone needs to inform these shitheads that their god is not telling them to avoid vaccination, because their magic god does not fucking exist!

    If these ball garglers want to avoid medical treatments and get themselves killed, fine. But don't drag other people in to it.