Earlier this year, Connecticut released data revealing that over 100 Connecticut schools had vaccination rates below federal guidelines. As a result, Gov. Ned Lamont and other officials are working to repeal the religious exemption law, under which people can choose not to vaccinate due to their religious beliefs.
A bucket of used vaccinations. Photo by Kristen Altmeyer
“Connecticut has pockets of very dangerous numbers of low vaccination rates, which is what caused the problem in New York State,” said Democratic House Rep. Matt Ritter, referring to the outbreak of measles in Brooklyn earlier in the year.
“We suspect later this month, when the more updated list comes out it will be a lot more schools,” said Ritter.
Ritters suspicion was correct, as the 2018-2019 school-by-school vaccination rate data revealed that 134 schools have vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella below federal guidelines. The schools featured in the data had more than 30 kindergarten students.
While Connecticut has a much higher overall vaccination rate than New York – Connecticut is placed #6 and New York placed at #31 for overall vaccination rates in the country – there is still a concern.
Quinnipiac student Leah Sutherland receiving a shot. Photo by Kristen Altmeyer.
All it takes is one unvaccinated person to set the percentage rate below the federal guidelines.
“You’ll see schools in the low 70’s and it’s interesting because you’re only talking about 30 kids,” said Ritter. Some will argue, well if you just add two kids that are vaccinated, the rate goes up to 95%, and that argument works both ways. What’s scary about it is that if you lose one kid, you’re back below, so it works both ways.”
In 2007, about 460 people had vaccination exemptions in Connecticut. Today, that number is closer to 2,000 people. While 96.5% of Connecticut residents receive vaccinations, it is still considered a health issue.
“The job of a legislature, public health commissioner and her staff is to not to wait until something happens,” said Ritter. “It’s to see a pattern and say ‘If we don’t do something about this pattern, we know something bad is going to happen.’ It’s trying to get ahead of it.”
There is a broad consensus between the governor and the public health commissioner to propel this bill forward.
“Governor Lamont is standing side by side with the families who have made the responsible decision to ensure their children are immunized in order to attend public schools, a figure which DPH reports consists of 95% of children in our education system,” said Rob Blanchard, Gov. Lamont’s communication director. “Decades of science clearly proves that more children who receive their vaccinations, the safer it is for everyone, especially those who may be susceptible to serious diseases.”
The bill does not require children to get vaccinated, but instead would prohibit them from entering Connecticut’s public and private schools. Those with medical exemptions due to immunization complications will not be affected by the new law. But there is a backlash from people who say those exemptions are important for their beliefs and to honor their religion.
“My great grandparents would be appalled knowing that vaccinations would be mandatory for children in Connecticut,” said senior marketing major Jessica O’Keefe, a member of the Orthodox community. “They would definitely feel like this was an attack on our religion.”
But Ritter says that that legislators are not challenging anyone’s beliefs.
“The problem is, we have to look at the greater good for the state of Connecticut and we have to look at the population that’s medically fragile, the other 96 percent of the state and we have to make a policy decision,” said Ritter.
There is a stereotype that all members affiliated in the Jewish religion do not receive vaccinations. There is a small sector of the branch of Orthodox Jewish affiliates that are the anti-vaccers. In latin, Orthodox means a “strict adherence to the law.”
“I think it’s sinful,” said Rabbi Reena Judd of Quinnipiac University. “I think it’s our human responsibility to embrace technology and medical advancements that not just lengthen the days of our life, but enhance the quality of those days.”
The sector of Orthodox Jewish members that refuse to get vaccines does so because they are in denial of modernity.
“My great grandparents generation believed everything was to be natural and to avoid medicines,” O’Keefe said. “They believed their bodies would heal through the power and believe through investment in our religion.”
Although the United States has combated the first measles outbreak in 1912 and was declared as a “measles free” country, the measles have now taken residency in 31 states since 2019.
Graphic by Kristen Altmeyer
“I think the main reason we have another measles outbreak, is that people don’t understand what measles does to the human body,” said Dr. Brett Lindenbach, an associate professor of microbial biology at Yale. “They don’t know much about the virus. People have forgotten what it’s like to have measles or to have their children infected by it.”
According to the CDC, measles is known as one of the most contagious diseases in the world. It is an airborne virus that can infect anyone that has been in the same vicinity as someone who is infected. Measles can lead to blindness, brain swelling, intellectual disabilities and even death. In 1657, measles appeared for the first time in Boston. Due to a high number of vaccination rates, America was able to declare that they were a measles-free nation in 2000. Today, America faces a record number of measles outbreaks and has lost its measles free status. The measles are in New Haven County’s backyard, with three reported cases in New Haven in 2019.
As Connecticut is working to combat its measles outbreak, so is the rest of the world.
“In seven countries, there has been a return of the measles and indigenous transmission of measles,” said Dr. Saad Omer, a vaccinologist and infectious disease epidemiologist at Yale University. “In this country, we eliminated indigenous transmission of measles and now it’s mostly imported from places like Europe and the outbreaks associated with it, but if measles return as an indigenous disease, then we have more cases.”
If the bill passes, it won’t be in effect until the school year of 2021-2022.
Though it was cancer that Judd overcame and not the measles, the Quinnipiac rabbi said she believes modern medicine is the answer.
“I embrace concepts of modernity,” Judd said. “I’m an eight year survivor of fourth stage colorectal cancer. Had I not embraced modernity, I’d be dead.”
