The state House of Representatives approved a bill early Tuesday, April 20, that would remove Connecticut’s religious exemption from mandatory school vaccinations, a major step for a hot-button proposal that has been raised three years in a row with no vote in either chamber until this week. That measure was supported and defended by State Rep Raghib Allie-Brennan, whose 2nd District includes parts of western Newtown.

The 2nd District also encompasses the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School (HVWS), which in 2019 registered the largest number of exemptions of any school in the state. According to the DPH, 37.7 percent of HVWS students had religious exemptions on file that year.

“After nearly 16 hours of debate I voted to pass House Bill 6423 to eliminate the nonmedical exemption from mandatory school vaccinations and make changes to strengthen the medical exemption,” Allie-Brennan said in a release.

The bill passed by a vote of 90 to 53 after 16 hours of debate. Seven legislators were absent. The proposal drew overwhelming support from Democratic lawmakers, with a handful of Republicans crossing the aisle to join them in advancing the measure. Governor Ned Lamont has said that if the bill were to clear both chambers, he would sign it.

“When more than five percent of school children are not fully immunized, children living with health conditions that prevent them from being vaccinated are no longer protected,” Allie-Brennan said. “In the 2019-2020 school year we know that at least 120 of the 544 schools with 30 or more kindergarten students had measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates below 95%, placing our communities at risk for the rapid spread of entirely preventable diseases.

“That is nearly a quarter of all schools with at least 30 or more kindergarten students. In the 2019-20 school year, 8,328 children in Connecticut claimed the nonmedical exemption. That’s up from 7,782 in 2018-19 and 7,042 in 2017-18,” he said. “This is an alarming trend.”

The proposal, according to a follow-up report at ctmirror.org would erase the state’s religious exemption beginning on Sept. 1, 2022. Children in pre-kindergarten, day care, or those new to the school system would no longer be able to claim the exemption starting that day.

Children in kindergarten through 12th grade would still qualify for the remainder of their academic careers.

Amendment Passes

An amendment allowing K-12 students to continue claiming the religious exemption passed earlier in the day Monday. Under a previous version of the bill, only those in seventh grade and up would have been permitted to keep claiming the exemption.

Authors of the original proposal drew the line at seventh grade because of state data showing a larger number of children in younger grades opting for the religious exemption. But legislators said Monday that the protection should extend to students in kindergarten and older.

Families who enrolled their children in school under the current rules should be able to stick with the original policy, they argued.

Allie-Brennan also took issue with the scope of vaccines covered under the new ruling.

“This bill does not require students to be vaccinated for HPV, flu vaccine, or the COVID-19 vaccine as they are not part of the required vaccine schedule here in Connecticut,” the lawmaker observed. “Required vaccines include measles, mumps and rubella; diphtheria; pertussis (whooping cough); tetanus; poliomyelitis; and haemophilus influenzae type B.”

Allie-Brennan noted that any vaccines that are added must go through vetting by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, as well as the state’s bipartisan regulation review process.

“After meeting with constituents on both sides of the issue for the past two years, I co-introduced a bipartisan amendment to the bill that will extend the grandfather provision from seventh grade to kindergarten,” he continued. “Essentially, the bill would only apply to new children entering the school system. This compromise recognizes the dangers of further disruption in schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides more time for the state to contemplate online educational opportunities for those who may disenroll.

“My amendment passed with bipartisan support, 106 to 36, and became the underlying bill,” he added.

The final bill, as amended, passed just before 3 am and was sent to the Senate for consideration.

“At the same time,” Allie-Brennan said, “the bill expands and enhances the medical exemption process by creating a standardized certificate and providing clear and concise guidance to our health care providers. It also provides insurance coverage for consultations on vaccines.”

An Emotional Issue

The young lawmaker classified this bill “among the most emotional issues I have had to address.”

“I take my oath of office very seriously, and while I understand and respect parental rights and other personal liberties, my job is to protect the public health and prevent unnecessary deaths,” he said. “By passing this measure into law, we will help avoid future outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses. Vaccines are safe and effective, and our public health demands our attention and our leadership.”

Along with removing the religious exemption, the bill requires the state’s public health commissioner to annually release school-by-school immunization data; helps parents who cannot afford vaccines for their children by mandating that cities and towns cover the expense; and creates a board that will review Connecticut’s vaccine program and issue recommendations.

Several Republican lawmakers criticized the measure on Monday, questioning why younger children were deemed a “threat” while older students could continue claiming the exemption. Some argued the change should also include those in day care and pre-kindergarten, saying the bill would divide families.

If the bill clears the Senate and is signed into law, Connecticut would become the sixth state without a religious exemption. New York, Maine, Mississippi, West Virginia, and California do not have the vaccine exemption; 45 states and Washington, DC do, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The measure would not force children to be immunized; children in day care and pre-kindergarten, along with those entering the school system in the future, would be home-schooled if their parents choose not to vaccinate them for religious reasons. Leaders in the Senate have said they plan to vote on the bill by the end of April.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney told The CT Mirror in March that a majority of legislators in his chamber were in favor of the proposal.

CTMirror content by Jenna Carlesso was used in this report.