{"id":873,"date":"2019-11-26T01:19:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T01:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/11\/26\/20191018connecticut-plans-to-remove-the-religious-exemption-law-for-vaccinations\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:23:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:23:27","slug":"20191018connecticut-plans-to-remove-the-religious-exemption-law-for-vaccinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/11\/26\/20191018connecticut-plans-to-remove-the-religious-exemption-law-for-vaccinations\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut Plans to Remove the Religious Exemption Law for Vaccinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, Connecticut released data revealing that over 100 Connecticut schools<\/span><\/a> 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. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n
\n

A bucket of used vaccinations. Photo by Kristen Altmeyer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cConnecticut has pockets of very dangerous numbers of low vaccination rates, which is what caused the problem in New York State,\u201d said Democratic House Rep. Matt Ritter, referring to the outbreak of measles in Brooklyn earlier in the year. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe suspect later this month, when the more updated list comes out it will be a lot more schools,\u201d said Ritter.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

While Connecticut has a much higher overall vaccination rate than New York \u2013 Connecticut is placed #6 and New York placed at #31<\/span><\/a> for overall vaccination rates in the country \u2013 there is still a concern.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n
\n

Quinnipiac student Leah Sutherland receiving a shot. Photo by Kristen Altmeyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

All it takes is one unvaccinated person to set the percentage rate below the federal guidelines. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see schools in the low 70\u2019s and it\u2019s interesting because you\u2019re only talking about 30 kids,\u201d 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\u2019s scary about it is that if you lose one kid, you\u2019re back below, so it works both ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2007, about 460 people had vaccination exemptions in Connecticut. Today, that number is closer to 2,000 people. While 96.5% <\/span><\/a>of Connecticut residents receive vaccinations, it is still considered a health issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job of a legislature, public health commissioner and her staff is to not to wait until something happens,\u201d said Ritter. \u201cIt\u2019s to see a pattern and say \u2018If we don\u2019t do something about this pattern, we know something bad is going to happen.\u2019 It\u2019s trying to get ahead of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a broad consensus between the governor and the public health commissioner to propel this bill forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor 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,\u201d said Rob Blanchard, Gov. Lamont\u2019s communication director. \u201cDecades 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill does not require children to get vaccinated, but instead would prohibit them from entering Connecticut\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy great grandparents would be appalled knowing that vaccinations would be mandatory for children in Connecticut,\u201d said senior marketing major Jessica O\u2019Keefe, a member of the Orthodox community. \u201cThey would definitely feel like this was an attack on our religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ritter says that that legislators are not challenging anyone\u2019s beliefs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is, we have to look at the greater good for the state of Connecticut and we have to look at the population that\u2019s medically fragile, the other 96 percent of the state and we have to make a policy decision,\u201d said Ritter.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cstrict adherence to the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s sinful,\u201d said Rabbi Reena Judd of Quinnipiac University. \u201cI think it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sector of Orthodox Jewish members that refuse to get vaccines does so because they are in denial of modernity. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy great grandparents generation believed everything was to be natural and to avoid medicines,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said. \u201cThey believed their bodies would heal through the power and believe through investment in our religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the United States has combated the first measles outbreak in 1912 and was declared as a \u201cmeasles free\u201d country, the measles have now taken residency in 31 states<\/span><\/a> since 2019.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n
\n

Graphic by Kristen Altmeyer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think the main reason we have another measles outbreak, is that people don\u2019t understand what measles does to the human body,\u201d said Dr. Brett Lindenbach, an associate professor of microbial biology at Yale. \u201cThey don\u2019t know much about the virus. People have forgotten what it\u2019s like to have measles or to have their children infected by it.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to the CDC, measles is known as one of the most contagious diseases<\/span><\/a> 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\u2019s backyard, with three reported cases in New Haven in 2019.<\/p>\n

As Connecticut is working to combat its measles outbreak, so is the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn seven countries, there has been a return of the measles and indigenous transmission of measles,\u201d said Dr. Saad Omer, a vaccinologist and infectious disease epidemiologist at Yale University. \u201cIn this country, we eliminated indigenous transmission of measles and now it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n

If the bill passes, it won\u2019t be in effect until the school year of 2021-2022. <\/p>\n

Though it was cancer that Judd overcame and not the measles, the Quinnipiac rabbi said she believes modern medicine is the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI embrace concepts of modernity,\u201d Judd said. \u201cI\u2019m an eight year survivor of fourth stage colorectal cancer. Had I not embraced modernity, I\u2019d be dead.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the measles continues to spread throughout the country and Connecticut, officials are hoping to put a stop to it with this new law. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capstone-projects","category-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1501,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/1501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}