New Jersey Wants to Restrict Religious Exemptions to Vaccines

We wanted to alert you to some legislative activity threatening vaccine exemptions in New Jersey that requires immediate action. We are asking you to communicate your opposition to S2173 to your legislators right away Tuesday December 10th through the scheduled hearing on Thursday, December 12th. S2173 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 at 2:00 PM in Committee Room 4, on the 1st Floor of the State House Annex in Trenton. Please attend and testify against this bill if you are able. S2173 places burdensome, discriminatory and intrusive barriers on the exercise of a religious exemption. It requires a parent or guardian to justify their religious exemption by providing notarized sworn written documentation. This includes but isn’t limited to an explanation of the nature of the person’s religious tenet or practice that is implicated by the vaccination, how the administration of the vaccine would violate, contradict or be inconsistent with that tenet or practice, and information that indicates that the religious tenet or practice is consistently held by the person. Also, the bill is at strong risk for being further amended to totally eliminate the religious exemption during the hearing on 12/12/2019 in a similar way the companion bill A3818 was already amended to eliminate the religious exemption. In order for a bill to pass the legislature in New Jersey, it has to pass both houses before it is sent to the governor. A3818 still has to have a full vote by the Assembly and the next possible date for that vote would be Dec. 16, 2019. Calls are needed to oppose companion A3818 as well. The NJ Legislative Session is a two year session that is scheduled to end on 1/7/2020. It is critical that S2173 and A3818 are stopped in this home stretch.