Massachusetts lawmakers consider cutting religious vaccine exemption for students
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Beacon Hill is wading into the tumultuous territory of school vaccine requirements as lawmakers vet proposals to tighten school precautions against future outbreaks.
Driving the news: The Public Health Committee meets Wednesday to consider a handful of vaccine bills, including legislation to completely eliminate the state's religious exemption option and to standardize the student vaccine exemption system.
Why it matters: Vaccine mandates for children have always been a political minefield. Even Democrats in favor of the bills know they will be bombarded by comments from vaccine opponents if they come up for votes.
Zoom in: Rep. Andy Vargas (D-Haverhill), the sponsor of a bill to eliminate the religious exemption, told Axios the state has a responsibility to protect immunocompromised children from unvaccinated students.
- Vargas said anti-vaccine parents are using the religious exemption as a loophole to carry out their skepticism of science, not from any sincere religious belief.
The big picture: Massachusetts would become the seventh state to only allow medical exemptions for K-12 student vaccine requirements, joining California, West Virginia, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Maine and New York.
A separate bill with broader support wouldn't do away with the religious exemption but would standardize how exemptions are processed and tracked.
- Sen. Becca Rausch (D-Needham)'s bill would require more data collection and create standardized forms through the Department of Public Health.
State of play: K-12 students in Massachusetts are required to be immunized against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, and chickenpox.
- Currently, districts are in charge of processing vaccine exemptions and voluntarily report immunization data to the state.
The other side: Several groups plan to testify in person and virtually against the bills.
- The right-wing Massachusetts Family Institute warned this week that standardizing the exemption process and making immunization data public would create bureaucracy and shame schools and parents.