N.J. Senate committee OKs bill tightening requirements on exemptions to vaccines
The national debate over the government’s role in vaccinating schoolchildren reignited Monday in a small State House meeting room overflowing with doctors, parents and some sleepy children.
For nearly three hours, a Senate committee heard from more than a dozen people, many of them opposing a bill to tighten the requirements for parents and guardians who claim a religious or medical exemption to vaccinations. But the measure was approved, by a vote of 5-2, sending it to the full Senate for a vote.
The proposal had been introduced Jan. 30, three weeks after a measles outbreak started in California but three days before Governor Christie’s muddled response to a question about vaccines prompted a broader conversation over government overreach, personal and religious freedoms and public health.
Such a discussion carried over to the first floor of the capitol before the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on Monday. Several parents said the proposal was discriminatory and would erode their constitutional rights, while others suggested legislators on the committee are being paid by the pharmaceutical industry.
But proponents of the bill say it is meant to return New Jersey’s rules for vaccine exemptions to the way they were before 2008, when they were rolled back.
The law requires parents or guardians seeking a religious exemption to sign a written statement of their objection. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck and Joseph Vitale of Middlesex County, would require that the letter explain the parent or guardian’s religious “tenet or practice that is implicated by the vaccination” and how the vaccination would “violate, contradict, or otherwise be inconsistent with that tenet or practice.” The bill also would require the letter to be notarized and to include a statement that the parent or guardian understands the risks and benefits of vaccination.
For those seeking a medical exemption, the bill would maintain the requirement for a written statement by a physician or advanced practicing nurse that the vaccine is medically inadvisable.
“All this bill would do is essentially ask people to be honest and ensure the honesty of their beliefs,” said Dr. Drew Harris, founding chairman of the New Jersey Public Health Institute, a non-partisan public health advocacy group.
Harris collected data from the last decade showing that religious exemptions in school districts statewide soared from about 1,400 in 2007, the year before the rules were relaxed, to about 9,000 in 2014, suggesting the increase was driven by those who have moral, philosophical or general objections – which are not recognized by state law.
“The reality of our time is that it is easier to get an exemption than it is to take a shot, and that’s really the fundamental concern here. We really need to change that,” Harris added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked 73 percent of the measles cases that have spread this year across 17 states, including New Jersey, to two Walt Disney theme parks in California. And the majority of those measles patients had not been vaccinated, the CDC said.
The outbreak not only set off a national debate over whether parents should vaccinate their children, but became a litmus test for potential presidential candidates like Christie. When asked whether parents should vaccinate their children, the governor said he vaccinated his four children but that “parents need to have a measure of choice.” His office later clarified remarks to say Christie believes vaccines are “an important public health protection” and “there’s no question kids should be vaccinated” for measles.
Still, the governor’s remarks splashed fuel on an already hot debate over whether the government should intervene in children’s health. On Monday, many of the parents testifying in Trenton said the bill would wrongfully insert the government into matters of a higher power. Some brought along children – some toddlers, some school-age – to the hearing.
Sonia DaSilva, a mother of three from Kearny, said her family’s decisions not to vaccinate “speak deeply to who we are as religious people.”
“These reasons belong uniquely to me and my family. The government does not have the right to decide if my reasons are moral or religious; it is part of my own relationship with God and not to be mandated by man,” she said.
Louise Kuo Habakus, co-author of the 2011 book “Vaccine Epidemic,” went further, saying vaccines have caused “catastrophic harm and death to some.” She also said that the requirement to get the letter notarized would be a burden on struggling households.
“You’re going to turn day-care centers and schools into battlegrounds. You’re going to turn neighbors and friends and colleagues against each other. You’re going to drive families underground for information, medical support and care,” she said. “You’re going to turn us into a police state, and why? In the name of safety and health?”
Email: racioppi@northjersey.com
