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Assemblyman Suggests Bringing Back Religious Vaccine Exemption

At least one member of the state Assembly wants to reinstate a religious exemption from vaccination requirements to attend public schools in New York state.

Assemblyman David DiPietro, R-East Aurora, introduced legislation earlier this week to amend the public health law to reverse legislation signed earlier this year ending religious exemptions for vaccinations required before children can attend public schools. DiPietro’s legislation would allow parents or guardians with genuine and sincere religious beliefs against vaccinations to forego the vaccinations. It would also not require a certificate as a prerequisite to register an unvaccinated child in public schools.

DiPietro’s legislation faces an uphill road to passage. Control of the state Assembly won’t change before the end of the legislative session, and the Assembly approved ending the religious exemption for vaccines 84-61 on June 13. In the state Senate, the vote was 36-26. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is unlikely to sign the legislation even if it did pass, and DiPietro would be unlikely to garner the votes necessary to override a gubernatorial veto.

COURT BATTLE

A judge has reserved decision on a request to block a New York law that eliminated religious exemptions for student vaccines.

The request Tuesday came in the case of an Amish father who says vaccines run counter to his family’s religious beliefs. The lawsuit in Seneca County Court contends the law violates the constitutional right of religious freedom that first drew Amish settlers to New York in the 1800s.

New York in June became the fifth state to do away with religious exemptions for vaccines amid the worst measles outbreak in 27 years. That left more than 26,000 students who had the exemptions with the choice to either receive the shots or be homeschooled.

The Seneca County suit is one of at least a dozen pending legal challenges.

DISCUSSION TO END THE EXEMPTION IN JUNE

The vote in the state Assembly was 84-61 on June 13 to end the religious exemption to vaccines. Both Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, and Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, voted against ending the exemptions. Goodell said on the Assembly floor that he feels strongly enough about vaccines that he and his wife have donated to help make vaccines for polio available worldwide. His vote against ending the exemption because there are too few instances where there are enough unvaccinated students to threaten the herd immunity to disease to warrant a statewide law that infringes on religious liberty.

“So, when we’re balancing fundamental rights like religious freedom with an important state interest, which is maintaining the health of our population, the Supreme Court has suggested that the legislation should be narrowly crafted to achieve its purpose,” Goodell said on the Assembly floor. “A point made by one of my colleagues. And so I would suggest that rather than eliminate everyone’s sincerely-held religious exemptions Statewide, regardless of whether it is has any public health ramifications in certain communities, that we instead focus our efforts on those smaller areas where you have a critical mass of people that aren’t getting vaccinations.”

Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx and sponsor of the legislation to end the religious exemption, cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Prince v. Massachusetts in which the court concluded religious freedom does not include the liberty to expose the community to communicable disease or children to ill health or death.

“Well, Mr. Goodell, I’m not going to question people’s religious beliefs,” Dinowitz said on the floor of the Assembly. “But I will say that I’m not aware of anything in the Tora, the Bible, the Koran or anything else that would suggest that you should not get vaccinated. But people are entitled to believe what they want to believe. Call it religious beliefs if that’s what they want to call it. But if you choose to not vaccinate your child, thereby potentially endangering other children because you’ve made that choice even though your child will be protected because other people do vaccinate, creating the herd immunity that we need, if you make that choice that you’re the one who’s choosing not to send your kid to school. Not other people, and not the state.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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