5.28.19 - Senator Fred Akshar Releases New Survey on Vaccination Exemptions for Children in New York

Senator Fred Akshar released a new Community Voice Survey on a proposal to end religious and any other non-medical exemptions for vaccination for children attending school in New York State.

All 50 states require that students be vaccinated for diseases like measles, mumps, whooping cough, chickenpox and polio. All states allow exemptions for medical reasons, but 47 (including New York) allow exemptions for religious reasons and 17 also permit “philosophical exemptions.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, measles cases nationwide have more than doubled from 2018 to over 940 this year, with over 500 cases in New York City and 250 in Rockland County.

Akshar is asking his constituents to weigh in on Senate bill S.2994 which would repeal all non-medical exemptions from vaccination requirements for children.

Constituents are urged to visit Akshar.NYSenate.Gov to read more about the proposal and let Sen. Akshar know how they feel about the bill.

Respondents can specify whether they:

Support removing all non-medical exemptions for vaccinations;
Support keeping the current non-medical religious exemptions for vaccinations;
Support only allowing religious exemptions for children with written consent from the child's physician;
Support expanding non-medical vaccination exemptions in New York to include philosophical exemptions; or
Believe vaccinations for children should not be required by law

Throughout the 2019-2020 Legislative Session, Akshar will regularly post new Community Voice Survey questions on Akshar.NYSenate.Gov and publish the results of previously asked questions.

“Eliminating all non-medical exemptions for child vaccination raises serious questions about the balance of personal choice, religious freedom and the public health and safety of our children,” Akshar said. “It's important for me to continually allow the people of the 52nd Senate District to weigh in, be heard and share the results, no matter how polarizing the issue may be. It's about continuing to be open and accountable to the people.”

Direct link to survey: https://www.nysenate.gov/webforms/community-voice-survey-vaccination-exemptions

Full text of proposed legislation: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s2994/amendment/original

Sources on measles cases:
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/measles.page
http://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/measles-information/