In Defense of H.B. No. 5044

Connecticut is set to vote on a bill that would remove religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates. The bill, H.B. No. 5044, An Act Concerning Immunizations, was referred to the Public Health Committee earlier this month. A public hearing took place on February 19th where those in support and opposed to the bill could give testimony. This hearing was attended overwhelming by those opposed, mainly Antivaxxers.

The anti-vaccine movement is known for spreading misinformation. Various reasons given in opposition of the bill are easily refuted. As an example, many claim that the removal of religious exemptions is a constitutional rights violation. This is not true when we consider the 1944 Supreme Court ruling in Prince vs. Massachusetts. The court held that states may require vaccination regardless of a parent’s religious objection, stating that, “the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death.” This case made it clear that religious exemptions offered by states are elective, rather than mandated by the First Amendment’s right to free exercise of religion.

There are no major religions against vaccinaton, therefore there is no need for this exemption as it is being misused. The number of religious exemptions in our state has increased by 450% since 2003. Many parents use personal beliefs, often times based on misinformation, for these religious exemptions.

Why does this even matter? In order to prevent outbreaks of vaccine preventable illnesses, we need to reach herd immmunity thresholds (PDF). Connecticut has 134 schools that have a less than 95% immunization rate for kindergartners. Outbreaks generally happen in areas where there are low herd immunity rates. In 2019, New York saw outbreaks of measles due to low herd immmunity rates. The elimination of religious exemptions will help us meet these rates state wide.

Vaccine refusal is associated with the spread of vaccine preventable illnesses. Immunizations not only help protect those who receive the vaccine, but also those in the community who Cannot be vaccinated due medical conditions or age. Unvaccinated individuals also have a much higher likelyhood of contracting and spreading vaccine preventable illnesses. As an example, unvaccinated children are 35 times more likely to acquire measles than their immunized counterparts. The recently vaccinated are not a threat to those too young or ill to be vaccinated.

But if my child is vaccinated why am I worried about unvaccinated children? A very small portion of those vaccinated will not seroconvert, many school aged children have younger siblings too young to get certain vaccines. Not everyone can be vaccinated due to medical conditions and rely on herd immmunity to protect them. Vaccination isn't just about my child, it is about the community as a whole. The majority of the population can be vaccinated without contradiction. While reactions can happen, severe adverse reactions are rare. The fact is, the risk of a serious reaction to a vaccine is still less risky than the diseases they prevent.

Thousands of testimony was sent to the committee, for and against. Over 120 of sent in testimony was from "anonymous". Hundreds showed up to testify in Hartford, so many that testimony was heard until earlier the following day. The majority of those who spoke before the committee were from the anti-vaccine movement. The problem there is that these numbers were intentionally inflated to make it appear the majority oppose the bill. CT Freedom Alliance members were seen online asking for those out-of-state to join them in Hartford:

One of the main players in the movement, who spoke at the meeting, Del Bigtree, is from California. He has even admitted to manipulating people and their fears of vaccines. The anti-vaccine movement understands that more bodies means more "no" votes.

Antivaxxers are known to use tactics Like this to inflate their numbers. Calls to action, sharing local news polls in their echo chambers to appear the majority when they're the loud minority. They have harassed, assaulted, and sent death threats to legislators. These are the tools they're using to oppose legislation that is in the best interest of our communities.

Those in support of vaccination and our legislators need to see this movement for what it is; fear based misinformation and sometimes outright manipulation. We all need to do our due diligence in seeking good, science based information. We need to take action and contact our legislators and implore them to vote Yes on HB- 5044. Our legislators need to not get taken in by inflated numbers and instead vote for what is best for the majority and not the very small, but very loud, minority.