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BUFFALO, NY – When New York legislators revoked a religious exemption for compulsory school-based vaccination, thousands of state parents struggled to get children vaccinated or to get them out of school. classroom.
Legislators removed the exemption in June because of the country's worst measles outbreak since 1992. More than 26,000 children in public and private schools and nurseries were previously unvaccinated for religious reasons, according to the report. Department of State Health.
Now, time is running out. Unvaccinated students have 14 days from the start of classes to prove that they have received the first dose of each vaccine and they must make an appointment for the next session within a month. Most schools reopen just after Labor Day.
Some parents opposed to vaccination choose to withdraw their children from school rather than abide by it.
"Those who choose to vaccinate, it's not because their beliefs have changed," said Jina Gentry, a four-child Buffalo mother who schools her children at home rather than getting them vaccinated. She said that everyone does not have the means or the time to do the same thing.
At the Aurora Waldorf private school in suburban Buffalo, parents of 21 students said they would not go to school this fall, rather than rush to vaccinate said administrator Anna Harp, who oversees about 175 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
"Some families told us that they planned to go home and some said they were leaving New York," Harp said. "Many families told us that they plan to return once their children's vaccines are up to date."
New York has become the fourth state, along with California, Mississippi, and West Virginia, to eliminate exemptions from religious beliefs and personal beliefs. Maine will abolish them in 2021. All states allow medical exemptions.
More than 1,200 cases of measles have been confirmed in 30 states this year, more than three quarters of which are linked to outbreaks in New York and New York, the Centers for Disease Control reported.
Many of the cases in New York have been recorded among unvaccinated persons belonging to Jewish Orthodox communities. Vaccine resistance remains despite scientific evidence of safety and efficacy.
The state health department will audit schools to ensure compliance with the new law and oblige unvaccinated students without valid medical excuses to leave school, said spokeswoman Jill Montag. Schools already submit annual immunization coverage surveys and are subject to unannounced testing to confirm their responses. Schools that violate the rules may face fines.
"We do not anticipate any problem to ensure compliance," Montag said in an email.
Before the law was amended, the New York City health department had closed 12 schools that could not prove that students had been vaccinated as a result of an emergency order in April .
Like many parents, Gentry's perspective on vaccines does not stem from formal religious instruction, but rather from personal beliefs, including that God created naturally immune individuals against disease.
A literacy coach for Buffalo Public Schools, she explained that her work day will now be followed by classes with her children before and after dinner.
"It's a huge change and life has really changed," she said. One of her biggest concerns, she said, is that her children are now "separated from others."
Leslie Danesi said her 15-year-old daughter, who was captain of her school's basketball team and who would chair the student council, will be home schooled this year and will miss those opportunities.
"These are great things for a 15 year old," said the mother of six who lives in the city of Greece, near Rochester. She said that she considered her children as gifts from God and that they should not be subjected to forced injections.
The US Supreme Court ruled in 1905 that states have the right to enforce mandatory vaccination laws.
Opponents have filed at least two unsuccessful lawsuits. A hearing for one of them attracted over 1,000 people to the Albany County Courthouse.
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