House committee OKs bill allowing religious vaccine exemptions without stated reasons
An Alabama House committee Wednesday passed a bill that would allow parents or guardians of children in K-12 schools to claim religious exemptions from vaccinations without providing reasons.
SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would also require public institutions of higher education to offer both religious and medical exemptions to vaccine or testing requirements.
'The [current] process is cumbersome. Some feel like it's harassment,' claimed Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, who is handling the bill in the House. 'You have to go to the Department of Education, watch a video and sign some stuff, and some parents have really felt harassed by that for their religious liberties and parental rights.'
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Alabama's measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination rate among kindergartners was just under 93.8% in the 2023-2024 school year, a decrease from the 95% rate in the 2021-2022 school year, which is considered herd immunity.
Apriell Hartsfield, Kids Count director for VOICES for Alabama Children, said immunosuppressed children and infants too young for vaccinations could face consequences if more people choose to skip vaccinations. She said that the current system allows for effective monitoring of exemptions and rapid response to potential outbreaks of contagious diseases.
'This bill, by throwing out a system that works in favor of one that is random and unsystematic, will prevent health officials from being prepared to respond rapidly to outbreaks, and with highly contagious diseases that can spread rapidly, such as measles … time is of the essence, and systems that allow rapid response benefit the public's health,' Hartsfield said during the hearing.
Hartsfield said after the meeting that measles outbreaks are particularly dangerous, saying that children don't receive the MMR vaccine until about 18 months of age, making day care centers particularly vulnerable, which could have a negative impact on the economy. She said that if day care centers have to close temporarily, as they did during the height of the COVID pandemic, parents may not be able to get to work.
'What are these parents going to do who are relying on childcare to be able to work and provide for their families? What are these businesses going to do who are relying on their workers to come in and do their job? It's just going to put everybody in a really bad position,' Hartsfield said.
One person spoke in favor of the bill. Ted Halley, a Prattville resident who spoke Tuesday in favor of banning drag performances in libraries and public schools, said that vaccines should 'not [be] forced on down our throats.'
'As you know, there's two sides of every coin. Some people love the COVID vaccine. Some people like me hate it,' Halley said, pointing to unfounded claims of adverse effects from the vaccine. Halley also spoke Wednesday in favor of a bill extending the state's 'Don't Say Gay' ban in public schools.
Rep. Frances Holk-Jones, R-Foley, asked about the bill's language, specifically the term 'testing,' and asked for clarification on whether it referred to school tests or medical tests.
'Your bill is not specific. It just strictly says all testing,' Holk-Jones said.
Butler said that is something they can fix.
Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, also expressed concern about the religious basis of the exemption, saying that he couldn't find any religious denomination that explicitly forbids vaccines.
'So, I'm just wondering, why don't we just call this what it is, which is a personal exemption, instead of trying to call it a religious exemption?' Rafferty asked, but Butler maintained it is a religious exemption.
The bill passed the committee on a voice vote and moves to the House floor for further consideration.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
FDA may revoke Pfizer COVID-19 shot for young, healthy children.
Parents won't be able to vaccinate their healthy children 6 months to 5 years old if the FDA pulls Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine authorization. The Food and Drug Administration may revoke authorization for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children under age 5, the pharmaceutical company confirmed, which would limit parents' vaccine options ahead of the winter respiratory virus season. The possibility comes several months after President Donald Trump's Department of Health and Human Services began placing limits on COVID-19 vaccines. For the last four years, updated COVID-19 vaccines have been made available in the fall for most Americans before the cold sets in. The federal agency told Pfizer that it might not renew the emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty for children ages 6 months through 4 years, according to a statement sent to USA TODAY. 'We are currently in discussions with the agency on potential paths forward and have requested that the EUA for this age group remain in place for the 2025-2026 season,' a company spokesperson said. 'It is important to note that these deliberations are not related to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, which continues to demonstrate a favorable profile.' HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon declined to predict what the agency might do. 'We do not comment on potential, future regulatory changes,' Nixon said. 'Unless officially announced by HHS, discussion about future agency action should be regarded as pure speculation.' In July, Moderna received full FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to 11 years old who are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. The vaccine, Spikevax, is expected to be available for eligible populations in the 2025-26 respiratory virus season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends older patients get vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as people whose immune systems have been weakened by illness or medical treatments such as chemotherapy. But if Pfizer loses its EUA, parents won't have the option to vaccinate their healthy young children. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long sown doubt about a wide range of vaccines, while saying parents should be able to choose which vaccines their children should get. In late May, he announced that the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women was removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's immunization schedule. 'There's no evidence healthy kids need it today," Dr. Marty Makary, FDA commissioner, said in the May 27 video announcement posted to X. The American Academy of Pediatrics pushed back, saying at the time that the removal 'ignores independent medical experts and leaves children at risk.' Ending access to vaccination for healthy young children would strip families of choice, said Dr. Sean O'Leary, chair of the academy's committee on infectious diseases, in a May statement. 'Those who want to vaccinate may no longer be able to, as the implications for insurance coverage and access remain unclear," he said.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
CDC shooting marks latest in a string of hostility directed at healthcare workers
Just four years ago, while hospitals overflowed with unvaccinated patients, school board members, local leaders, and doctors were regularly confronted in public with taunts comparing them to the Taliban, Nazis, and leaders of Japanese internment camps. Sometimes the conflicts descended into violence and harassment. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The distrust and anger that grew since then has been amplified by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said Offit, who heads the vaccine education center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Advertisement Kennedy has been a leading voice in spreading false information about vaccines, scientists, and public health leaders, often using heated rhetoric that says they have caused mass death and injury. People he describes in such language have said his comments have led to threats, intimidation, and even violence. Kennedy, who toured the CDC campus on Monday, said no one should face violence while working to protect the health of others and called political violence wrong. But he went on to criticize the agency's pandemic response. Advertisement 'One of the things that we saw during COVID is that the government was overreaching in its efforts to persuade the public to get vaccinated, and they were saying things that are not always true,' Kennedy said during a television interview with Scripps News later in the day. A spokesperson for Kennedy blasted any notion that blamed vaccine misinformation for Friday's attack. 'This narrative is pure fiction, built on anonymous complaints and a willful disregard for the facts,' said Andrew Nixon of the US Department of Health and Human Services. 'Secretary Kennedy is not advancing an 'anti-vaccine agenda' — he is advancing a pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability agenda.' Authorities have said that 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White had written about his discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine before he opened fire on the CDC. White also had Following the attack, CDC employees were asked to scrape off old CDC parking decals from their vehicles, but even before that, some workers had taken steps to become less visible, including not wearing their public health service uniform, said Yolanda Jacobs, a union leader who represents some CDC workers. The CDC's new director told employees this week that no act of violence can diminish their mission to protect public health. 'We know that misinformation can be dangerous. Not only to health, but to those that trust us and those we want to trust,' Dr. Susan Monarez told employees during an 'all-hands' meeting Tuesday, her first since the attack capped her first full week on campus as director. Advertisement The federal agency, tasked with tracking diseases and responding to health threats, has been hit by widespread staff cuts, key resignations, and heated controversy over long-standing CDC vaccine policies upended by Kennedy. 'What happened on Friday is a direct result of that misinformation,' said Sarah Boim, a former CDC worker whose job was targeted for elimination earlier this year. 'Health Secretary Kennedy is one of the biggest pushers of misinformation.' The shooting, she said, left her in tears. 'My friends and family still work in those buildings,' she said. 'My mom works in one of those buildings.' In the aftermath, officials are assessing security and encouraging staff to report any new threats, including those based on misinformation about the CDC and its vaccine work. Despite its prominence since the pandemic, anti-vaccine rhetoric leading to harassment and violence took root before then. In 2019, an anti-vaccine activist assaulted California state Sen. Richard Pan, streaming it live on Facebook, after Pan sponsored a bill to make it more difficult to get a vaccine exemption. Another threw blood at Pan and the other lawmakers. The attacks came after Kennedy spoke outside the California Capitol, two large posters behind him featured Pan's image, with the word 'LIAR' stamped across his face in blood-red paint. Pan, a pediatrician, blames Kennedy for what happened then and now at the CDC. 'And you wonder why someone would go shoot up the CDC,' Pan said. 'Because he basically told them that those are the people you should hurt.' Advertisement
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Rosecrance Therapies acquires Ascend, expanding counseling services for eating disorders and sports performance
As the frequency of eating disorders increases and interest in performance enhancement broadens, so does the market for addressing them. Rosecrance Therapies Wednesday announced its acquisition of Ascend CHC, to provide treatment of eating disorders and support for sports and performance counseling. Eating disorders frequently accompany substance use and mental health disorders, said Carlene Cardosi, COO of Rosencrance, which provides mental health and addiction treatments in residential and outpatient settings in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. Ascend, also a behavioral health provider, is known for its expertise in eating disorder and performance counseling. While eating disorders and sports performance are very different, they share an increased demand for specialized counseling. 'We are also enhancing our counseling services for individuals in high-performance roles — such as athletes, musicians and performers — equipping them with the mental skills essential for optimizing their performance while ensuring their long-term well-being,' Cardosi said. Mental health treatment for athletes has received greater awareness through challenges shared by gymnast Simone Biles, swimmer Michael Phelps, and tennis players Naomi Osaka and Amanda Anisimova, who both took breaks from competition, citing the great pressure to perform. Besides treating anxiety, performance counseling can include efforts to increase concentration and confidence, and visualizing success. Meanwhile, the prevalence of eating disorders more than doubled worldwide from 2000 to 2018, the National Eating Disorders Association reported, with an added increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Binge eating in particular has become more common, as those with higher body weight have more than twice the likelihood of disordered eating. Expected growth in the market to serve these needs has spurred a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the field. There have been more than two dozen mergers and acquisitions this year, worth more than $1 billion, according to market analyst PwC. As part of that trend, the latest acquisition continues Rosecrance's recent growth. Earlier this year, Rosecrance reached an affiliation agreement with North Central Behavioral Health Systems to expand services in central Illinois. Rosecrance also acquired Connections Counseling in the Madison, Wisconsin, area in 2020. Rosecrance opened a new facility in Chicago's River North in 2022, in Norwood Park in 2023, in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood in 2024, and has locations in Des Plaines, Frankfort, La Grange, Northbrook and Warrenville. It offers outpatient treatment in the Chicago area, and residential treatment for substance use disorder, mental health and rehab in Rockford and Champaign. Rosecrance Behavioral Health employs over 1,500 individuals in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin and has added an additional 10 to 15 employees from Ascend. Officials stressed that multi-service organizations are better equipped to survive than small, narrowly focused agencies.
