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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.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JNCF on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:04PM (2 children)
Man, that's a real catch 22 if school/work doesn't accommodate your non-attendance. Even if they're legally supposed to, that isn't always the case on the ground. I hate to admit this, and I felt bad about it everytime, but I've totally shown up for work at a food service job while sick to the point of having thrown up earlier in the day. I always informed my managers and tried to get the shifts covered by co-workers, but ultimately I sometimes had to decide between potentially getting people sick or continuing to have a job, and I selfishly chose to continue having a job. I did eventually discover that the employer would actually give me the shift off on short notice whether or not it was covered if I conveyed that I had been throwing up in a permanent company-wide message rather than through private communication directly to managers, probably due to fear of lawsuits, but there was a learning curve.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @11:56PM (1 child)
School around here has always allowed 10 days per year unexcused absence, and something like the measles would get a doctor's note excusing the absence.
Work, YMMV, laws schmaws, local management can still screw you over for staying home one day that they think you shouldn't have.
When I worked as a fry cook, my first duty of the day was to go scrub the dumpster... food services shouldn't put people at disease risk, but their management are such bottom feeders most of the time that they just make crap up as they go along, and rarely do they care about anything they haven't been specifically threatened with firing for by _their_ management.
Does your state have "employment at will"? Most do now, I think. The essence of that law is: They can terminate you at any time for any reason or no reason at all, and you can leave at any time with no prior notice. Kinda sucks for you, if you need a job, and all management has to do if they don't like anything you've done is wait a sufficiently long period before making up some BS downsizing, fresh blood on the crew or whatever excuse to terminate you essentially for no reason - but, it really was because you got sick and made them come in on their day off.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JNCF on Thursday May 09 2019, @12:36AM
Yup. They didn't fire me for it, though. I always made it clear that I was willing to come in. If I hadn't been willing to come in, and hadn't left the decision up to them (albeit in a manner that was transparent to the whole company), they might have. I didn't phrase it as "this is a threat," it was more like "hey can anyone cover my shift tonight? I've thrown up three times so far today and don't want to contaminate coworkers or customers, but if nobody can pick it up I'll be there."