HARTFORD, Conn. — With the state Senate scheduled to vote on a bill to repeal Connecticut’s religious exemption for school vaccinations, a crowd of several thousand people gathered outside the state Capitol Tuesday to show their strong opposition to the measure.
“This is discrimination and it goes against our First Amendment,’' said the Rev. Yashica Blue, the minister of a non-denominational church in Hartford. She wore a T-shirt that read “This mom calls the shots.”
The rally began with a prayer service and featured several nationally known critics of vaccination mandates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Protesters broke out in occasional chants of ’'kill the bill,’' they vowed to remain on the grounds outside the Capitol until the Senate votes.
The bill cleared the House of Representatives last week after more than 16 hours of debate. If approved by the Senate, as expected, it will go to Gov. Ned Lamont for consideration. He has pledged to sign in.
Few issues have been as contentious and polarizing as the effort to rescind the religious exemption, which has been enshrined in state law since 1959. Tuesday’s rally was the second mass protest against repeal of the exemption: Earlier this spring, thousands also turned out to decry the proposal, saying they, not the government, should determine whether their children receive a vaccine.
House Bill 6423 would eliminate the religious exemption for the requirement that children be inoculated against measles, mumps and other communicable diseases before entering school. (The COVID-19 vaccination is not currently among the mandated inoculations.)
The overwhelming majority of parents follow the state’s immunization rules but in some pockets of Connecticut, vaccination rates have dipped in recent years, leading some public health experts to worry about community immunity.
Parents of children who have a compromised immune system or another underlying medical condition that can put them at risk of an adverse outcome from a vaccine could still secure a medical exemption from a physician.
The bill has divided the legislature, with most Democrats supporting it and most Republicans opposed. The GOP filed more than 55 amendments to the bill, suggesting that debate could go late.
That split was evident moments after the Senate began debate on the measure at 12:20 p.m.
“It is our obligation to protect the public health,’' said Sen. Mary Daugherty Abrams, a Democrat from Meriden and co-chairwoman of the legislature’s public health committee. “We’ve all shared in the unique experience of living through a pandemic...we have the opportunity to be proactive, to acknowledge the danger and be courageous in protecting our children and our communities.”
Abrams said the number of families seeking religious exemptions has climbed in recent years. “The increase in the use of the non-medical exemption has created a situation we must now address,’' she said.
In the 2013-14 academic year, 316 students received the religious exemption, out of about 96,000 students entering school. In 2019-20, that number had increased to 1,536. Many of those exemptions are concentrated in a relatively few school, she said.
“When you hear that our vaccination rates in Connecticut are high, remember that those figures are overall,’' Abrams said, “and do not reflect the significant vulnerability present in our schools and communities. Outbreaks occur in pockets of vulnerability.”
Sen. Tony Hwang of Fairfield, the ranking Republican on the public health committee, said he believes in vaccinations. His own two children were vaccinated and he recently received his COVID-19 shot.
“I believe in the good that science and pharmacology can provide,” he said. “But to me, this debate is much more in understanding the critical balance and the role of government over individual choice.”
Hwang said he believes it is a parents responsibility, not the state’s, to decide whether or not their child should be vaccinated, and he noted that most of the 3,500 people submitted testimony to the legislature about the bill agree.
“Are we not listening to the people?” he said. “All you need to do it look outside this building and look at the gathering of people who have exercised their constitutional right to...have their voices heard.”
Sen. Rob Sampson, a Republican from Wolcott, said the bill is not about vaccines. “It is about the government power, greatly expanding the role and reach of government into our personal lives...and should make each of us wonder whether we are still free citizens living in anything that even resembles America,’' he said.
A previous version of the bill called for a “grandfather” clause only for students in seventh grade and above. But as part of a compromise, Democrats amended the measure that would allow all students with existing religious exemptions to remain in school.
That change was not enough to win over Tara Carr, a Brookfield mother of four. She said she will leave the state if the religious exemption is removed.
Carr is a U.S. Army veteran who served in China and Afghanistan, among other places. “I watched my friends die to protect religious freedom and now my home state is taking it away,’' she said. “It’s disgusting, representatives should be ashamed of themselves.”
She added: “With the infiltration of New Yorkers coming, we may as well sell and get the hell out of here.”
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