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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: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:51PM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:51PM (#841343)

    There are titer tests for many of the vaccines, and if you don't produce an adequate titer you probably needed a booster shot anyway.

    And, there we go again - if vaccination proof becomes mandatory (outside specialized professions), do we really want to haul out every person who can't find their paperwork, force them to submit blood for testing, force them to get booster shots (when recommended by "science"), etc.? To me, that's the logical extension of all this mandatory childhood vaccination stuff, what about the under-vaccinated adults?

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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday May 11 2019, @09:17AM (1 child)

    by sjames (2882) on Saturday May 11 2019, @09:17AM (#842256) Journal

    Sure, but I'll bet the people who don't want to take my word for it also don't want to cough up for the tests.

    It was required to start school. I started (and completed) school. So the proof must have existed decades ago.

    To be complete, I did not get vaccinated for Rubella since by the time the vaccine was commonly available, I already had immunity the hard way.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday May 11 2019, @12:56PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday May 11 2019, @12:56PM (#842292)

      It was required to start school. I started (and completed) school. So the proof must have existed decades ago.

      That's not really proof, your parents could have exempted you - even back in the 1970s when it wasn't all over the news, it still happened.

      I'll bet the people who don't want to take my word for it also don't want to cough up for the tests.

      You might be surprised... When we go to the county health clinic to get our Tetanus shots, the fee is really small, like $5, and I think that can be waived if you tell them it's a hardship for you.

      I'm not crying conspiracy here, but there are interests out there who would happily pay for the whole population to be vaccinated for free, at least for those vaccines that are no longer IP protected and making big $$$ for their creators.

      I agree with the current structure that makes it a more inconvenient PITA to get the exemption paperwork than it is to get the shots. Human nature, shots are painful, trips to the doctor/clinic to get shots are inconvenient (and somewhat costly), if all you had to do to exempt yourself/your kids was go online and check a box - that would lead to a public health crisis for no better reason than laziness.

      On the other hand, if people believe in this decision strongly enough to go through more inconvenient PITA to get the exemption... at least that's passing some kind of "do they really believe, or are they just being lazy / protecting their kids from the pain of the shots?" threshold.

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