Controversial Vaccine Bill Passes First Hurdle In CT

HARTFORD, CT — The legislative public health committee voted 14-11 to pass an amended version of a bill that would eliminate the religious exemption for students in school. The biggest difference in the amended bill is that it would grandfather current unvaccinated students into the school system.

The original draft of the bill called for not allowing any students who weren’t vaccinated to attend school come September. Several parents testified that they would have to scramble to figure out how to educate their children if the bill was passed. Many parents who testified argued that the state was interfering in their health decisions for their children.

Medical experts testified that vaccines are safe and good for public health.

The bill brought thousands of parents to the capitol last week. The 22 hours of testimony from parents, medical experts and others likely set a record for a public hearing. Several legislators on the committee said they were impressed by the record-breaking level of public participation on the issue.

State Rep. William Pettit (R-New Britain) said he personally believes in the medical effectiveness of vaccines, but believed that allowing children to be grandfathered in sent mixed messages.

Another issue is that the bill makes no mention of what to do about unvaccinated adults that are in contact with children including teachers, administrators and cafeteria workers, Pettit said.

He said he believed that the legislature needed to slow down on the issue.

House Public Health Committee Chair Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport) said that the vote Monday wasn’t on the final language of the bill and that there would still be time to offer additional input and changes to language as the session moves forward.

Gov. Ned Lamont previously said he is in favor of repealing the religious exemption.

Some have questioned whether data released by the state Department of Public Health regarding school immunization rates is accurate. Informed Choice CT released a statement that said legislators should hold off on voting until data is corrected. DPH data shows that 7,800 students use the religious exemption across all grades, which equates to 1.3 percent of students in public and private schools in the state.

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“Last year, religious exemptions increased on average one exemption per school or program. The DPH is aiming to remove religious and education freedoms over one new religious exemption per school,” said LeeAnn Ducat, founder of Informed Choice Connecticut.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that most children get their first MMR vaccine between 12 and 15-months-old with certain high risk groups getting it sooner.
High vaccination rates not only protect vaccinated children, but also protect those who can't receive vaccinations for other reasons thanks to herd immunity, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

There were 1,282 individual cases of measles in 31 states during 2019, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention preliminary data. Of those there were 128 hospitalizations and 61 cases that had complications, including pneumonia and encephalitis.