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New York on Thursday abolished the religious exemption imposed on schoolchildren from schoolchildren because the country's worst measles outbreak in decades has prompted states to reconsider the idea of giving parents the means to to avoid vaccination rules.
The Senate and Assembly, led by Democrats, voted Thursday to repeal the waiver, which allows parents to quote their religious beliefs and to prevent their child from receiving the necessary vaccinations to enroll in school.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the measure a few minutes after the final vote. The law takes effect immediately, but gives unvaccinated students up to 30 days after they enter a school to show that they have received the first dose of each vaccine required.
With the move to New York, similar exemptions are still allowed in 45 states, though lawmakers of many of them have introduced their own legislation to eliminate the waiver.
The issue is hotly debated and the debate around this issue has often been emotional, stressing that religious freedom is being negated by warnings that public health is at risk. After the vote in the House, many spectators in the gallery shouted "shame!" A woman shouted obscenities at lawmakers from below.
The debate has only intensified with this year's measles outbreak, which, according to federal officials, has exceeded 1,000 diseases, the highest level in 27 years.
"I am not aware of anything in the Torah, the Bible, the Koran or anything that suggests not being vaccinated," said Bronx Democrat, Jeffrey Dinowitz, the godfather of the Assembly of the law Project. "If you choose not to vaccinate your child, which may endanger other children … then it is you who choose not to send your children to school. "
Hundreds of parents of unvaccinated children gathered at the New York Capitol for the protest vote.
Stan Yung, a lawyer and father of Long Island, said that his orthodox Russian religious beliefs and his health concerns about vaccines would prevent him from vaccinating his three young children. His family, he said, might consider leaving the state.
"People have come to this country to get away from this stuff," Yung said before Thursday's vote.
Proponents of the bill say religious beliefs about vaccines should not overshadow scientific evidence of their effectiveness, noting that the US Supreme Court ruled in 1905 that states have the right to enforce laws by vaccination. During the badembly debate, supporters spoke of past scourges that have been defeated in the United States through vaccines.
"I am old enough to have been present when polio was a real threat," said Assembly member Deborah Glick of D-Manhattan. "I believe in science … your personal opinions, which can be based on the science of junk food, do not outweigh the greater good."
Proponents have also suggested that some parents could claim religious exemption for their children, even though their opposition is actually based on scientifically discredited claims about the dangers of vaccines.
The bill would not alter the existing exemption granted by the state to children who can not be vaccinated for medical reasons, such as a weakened immune system.
Cuomo told reporters Wednesday that he believed that public health – and the need to protect those who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons – outweighed concerns about freedom of religion.
"I understand religious freedom," he said. "I've heard the theory of anti-vaxxers, but I think both are overwhelmed by the risk to public health."
The current measles epidemic has raised new concerns about exemptions in many states. The nation experienced so many cases in 1992, where more than 2,200 were reported.
The majority of cases come from outbreaks in New York in Jewish Orthodox communities.
California removed the personal belief vaccine exemptions for public and private schoolchildren in 2015, following the measles outbreak at Disneyland that sickened 147 people and spread to the United States and Canada. Maine ended its religious exemption earlier this year.
Mississippi and West Virginia do not allow religious exemptions either.
Once widespread in the United States, measles became rare after vaccination campaigns that began in the 1960s. Ten years ago, there were less than 100 cases per year.
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