State Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Oxford) railed against legislation limiting religious exemptions for vaccinations Tuesday.
“Both the United States and New Jersey Constitutions guarantee the protection of religious freedoms, and this partisan legislation is a blatant violation of the constitutional rights of all New Jerseyans,” he said. “Garden State parents should not have to defend the tenets of their religion to the governmental authorities in New Jersey. Religious vaccine exemptions are lawful, and I will fight to ensure they remain so.”
Measles outbreak in New York
New Jersey lawmakers have pushed to eliminate religious exemptions for students after a measles outbreak within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in New York where many children are unvaccinated.
That outbreak has led to at least 423 confirmed cases of measles, a potentially life-threatening disease that was eradicated by vaccines in the United States, though international travelers have more than once brought the disease back into America.
Lawmakers cleared the Assembly version of the bill in April, and the Senate Health Committee is set to move the measure at a meeting on Thursday.
“This is big, obtrusive government at its worst”
“My district office phone has been ringing off the hook with parents concerned that their children will be forced to receive needle injections that violate their religious beliefs,” Doherty said. “This is big, obtrusive government at its worst.”
Other lawmakers have told the New Jersey Globe their offices have been inundated with calls from “anti-vaxx” activists and concerned parents.
Under the bill, vaccination exemptions would only be given in cases where a physician says vaccine might endanger the health of a child.
The bill explicitly precludes exemptions based on fears about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, which have served the basis of the anti-vaxx movement.
“The best protection against infectious disease is a healthy immune system, supported by natural foods, vitamins, herbs and supplements that build up the immune system to fight off almost any disease known to mankind,” Doherty said. “A well-nourished child will easily recover from an infectious disease and will rarely suffer complications.”
Measles vaccines had all but eliminated the disease
The Centers for Disease Control estimate that between 400 and 500 children died from measles in the United States each year in the decade preceding the first measles vaccine.
That vaccine and its iterations have functionally eliminated the disease.
Some vaccine opponents fear, without much scientific basis, that vaccines can contribute to the spread of disease.
Doherty claims vaccinated people can be infectious
“Vaccinated individuals can actually pose greater risk to public health than the unvaccinated due to a process known as shedding,” Doherty said “Scientific evidence demonstrates that individuals vaccinated with live virus vaccines such as MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), rotavirus, chicken pox, shingles and influenza can shed the virus for many weeks or months afterwards and infect the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.”
Only one vaccine, the since-retired live polio vaccine, was shown to shed through feces enough of a virus to cause infections.
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Good job Doherty!! Thanks!!