A bill in the Massachusetts legislature (H.604/S.1391) filed by state Representative Andy Vargas (D-Lawrence) and state Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Lowell) would remove religious exemptions for vaccines to attend all kindergarten-through-12 schools in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health advanced the bill last week and referred it to the Health Care Financing Committee.
The bill has strong support from the medical community, which argues it will improve public health.
“Although Massachusetts’s vaccination rate overall is among the highest in the country, certain districts in the state are experiencing disproportionately high exemption rates, which puts the entire Commonwealth’s herd immunity at risk, as outbreaks — even localized outbreaks — can overwhelm the broader population’s collective immunity,” the Massachusetts Medical Society wrote in testimony supporting the bill. “Distressingly, the 2019 measles outbreak in New York caused a public health emergency, despite the state having a higher overall rate of vaccinated children entering school than Massachusetts.”
However, not everyone is on board.
Here are five arguments being made against the bill:
1. Hurting Vulnerable Students
Health Action Massachusetts opposes the legislation, in part, because its officials think it will disproportionately harm children from what it views as marginalized communities.
“The bill would deny in-person schooling to children (K-12) who desperately need it, including those from communities of color and underprivileged backgrounds, and those with special needs,” a landing page the organization made says.
Generally, immigrants and black Americans have lower vaccination rates than the rest of the population
2. Loss of Personal Freedom
State Representative Steve Xiarhos (R-Barnstable) supports vaccination.
However, he opposes the bill, in part, because he does not want the government to take personal freedom away from its citizens.
My office has received many calls and e-mails recently about proposed legislation that would take away religious exemptions pertaining to vaccine requirements. I’m responding to those inquiries individually; thank you to those who have reached out to me. Pending that, please know that I oppose this legislation. I believe strongly in your rights and freedoms and I take my job to protect them very seriously. I do not personally oppose vaccination, but I also don’t believe in mandates that take away your personal rights, and that’s especially true for those who wish not to become vaccinated based on their sincerely-held religious beliefs.
3 and 4. Loss Of Religious Freedom and Parental Rights
Some of the bill’s opponents oppose it because it represents a loss of religious freedom. Some also see it as a loss of parental rights — their ability to raise their child as they see fit.
“No one should be forced to violate their sincere religious beliefs in order to send their kids to school,” Whiting told NewBostonPost by email in July 2023. “But by eliminating the religious exemption to school vaccine requirements, that is what these bills would do. Our lawmakers clearly learned nothing from the COVID pandemic — parents want their rights to be honored and their religious beliefs to be respected. These bills do neither.”
No major religions oppose vaccination on theological grounds. However, a few sects of Protestantism do. Examples include: Dutch Reformed Church, Church of the First Born, Faith Assembly, and Endtime Ministries, according to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Some people who oppose abortion, however, object to taking vaccines or having their children take vaccines if the vaccine has been produced or tested using the cell lines of an aborted child — even if their religion’s official teaching has no such position.
5. Unnecessary
Others contend that Massachusetts doesn’t have a problem with people not vaccinating their kids. Therefore, they don’t think forcing a small portion of the population to get vaccinated is a good use of the government’s time and resources.
“The Massachusetts child vaccination rate is currently 96.1% for the 7 vaccines surveyed by the CDC,” the Weston A. Price Foundation wrote in a press release. “The existing religious exemptions are not a problem and should be left intact.”
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