[T]he Senate approved legislation Wednesday that would repeal Vermont’s philosophical exemption from the immunization requirements to enter kindergarten.
On an 18-11 vote, the Senate tacked on an amendment repealing the exemption to a House bill, H.98, which makes technical corrections to the statutes governing communicable disease registries — including the vaccine registry. The underlying bill passed on a voice vote.
The five required immunizations are for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; polio; hepatitis B; chickenpox; and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). The bill does not remove the religious or medical exemptions from those immunizations.
Following a hearing Wednesday morning in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, summarized the debate as one that pits personal liberty against public health.
“I think we all agree that there are limits on personal liberty,” McCormack added.
The issue resurfaced this winter following a measles outbreak that spread to 19 states and infected more than 150 people, raising concerns about declining immunization rates nationally and in Vermont.
There are 3,479 children covered by philosophical exemptions, which represents 3.8 percent of all students in the state, according to the Department of Health figures.
Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, who led an unsuccessful effort to repeal Vermont’s philosophical exemption in 2012, was the lead sponsor of the amendment. The Legislature, instead of eliminating the exemption, chose to increase educational requirements around the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
Vermont’s declining immunization rates show those efforts aren’t working, Mullin said during debate over the amendment last week, adding that Vermont is “one plane ride away” from a measles outbreak like the Disneyland outbreak earlier this year.
The most recent figures from the Health Department show that Vermont lags behind the rest of the U.S. and New England when it comes to vaccinations.
The number of parents claiming a religious or philosophical exemption increased from 5.4 percent in 2012 to 6.1 percent last year, and the majority were philosophical. For the MMR vaccine, more than 90 percent of exemptions claimed by parents were philosophical, according to Health Department figures.
Though immunization rates are still relatively high in the aggregate, the Department of Health data show there are some individual schools with rates as low as 60 percent. These are mostly schools with low enrollment, but medical experts who spoke in favor of eliminating the philosophical exemption said those schools would be at greater risk were an outbreak to occur.
Doctors who spoke in favor of keeping the exemption spoke about the lack of scientific understanding for why a small minority of people have “serious adverse” responses to vaccinations, and the economic conflicts of interest that pervade the federal regulatory process for approving vaccines.
Sandy Reider, a Lydonville physician and medical adviser to the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice, said parents shouldn’t fear losing access to an education for their children by exercising “free and informed consent” in making medical choices.
Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, raised concerns about the impact of repealing the exemption on small schools with high rates of unvaccinated students, and asked about the states obligation to provide residents with an education. The amendment language would apply to all schools in the state, not just public schools.
Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, read the legal opinion of Peter Teachout, a constitutional law expert at Vermont Law School, who wrote to her that it does not violate people’s constitutional rights to place requirements on school attendance. However, in earlier testimony an assistant attorney general said there’s “no settled law” around eliminating the philosophical exemption, and the state could be sued as a result.
Sen. David Zuckerman, P-Chittenden, who opposes eliminating the exemption, said small schools with low immunization rates could see their student population depleted if the amendment becomes law. That would have a “profound” impact on state aid to those schools, and could result in higher property taxes in the towns where they are located.
Families that use the exemption will be left with limited options, said Thomas McLeod, policy analyst for the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice. His was among several families that were at the Statehouse Wednesday to oppose its repeal, but he said he’d prefer not to speak about his own family.
In general, however, McLeod said, families will have two choices: “basically to home school or leave Vermont.”
