The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lawmakers advance vaccine bill amid more protest
A slim majority of Democrats on the Public Health Committee voted Monday to pass a bill repealing the religious exemption from mandatory childhood vaccinations, sending the controversial legislation that spurred hours of debate and filled the Capitol with protestors to the House of Representatives.
Outside the hearing room, thousands of people, mostly mothers with young children, crowded into the Legislative Office Building, filling overflow rooms and encircling the second, third and fourth floors. Watching live streams of the hearing on their phones and computers, they cheered dozens of times when committee members spoke against the bill.
Fourteen Democrats voted to approve the legislation and move it forward, though many clarified during the lengthy meeting that they wanted to continue working on the language of the bill and making further changes. All nine Republicans on the committee voted against it, along with state
Rep. Jack Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, and state Rep. David Michel, D-Stamford.
In response to some of the hundreds of parents who addressed them in the last week, the committee amended the bill to allow for grandfathering of students who are currently enrolled in schools. The previous version of the legislation would have prohibited children who are currently using the religious exemption from attending any public or private school in Connecticut, once the law takes effect. Under the new iteration, students currently enrolled would be able to continue using the exemption from preschool through the end of high school.
Before voting for the bill, committee members also approved an amendment proposed by Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, that adds autoimmune disorders, or a family history of autoimmune disorders, to the list of conditions that qualify for a medical exemption from the vaccination, and that requires more data on exemptions to be collected.
Minority Republicans on the committee called for further study of the issue, charging that Democrats are politicizing the issue and questioning the data on exemptions, which many parents called into question last week. During the hearing, some made it a point to emphasize their own personal belief in vaccines and their children’s vaccination status, despite their opposition to the bill.
“I personally, as one of the two physicians on public health, believe that vaccines work and believe in vaccines,” said Rep. William Petit, R-Cheshire, a retired endocrinologist who is ranking member of the panel. “I think we need to look at this issue, but I think we have to go more slowly. From my point of view the issues are not so much scientific as socioeconomic, socio-political.”
He and several other committee members said the amendment off the bill to protect current students from the requirements indicates that there is no urgent need to repeal the exemption, arguing that it contradicts the committee’s claims that it must be done urgently to protect public health.
“If we grandfather kids in starting at kindergarten on, haven’t we undercut the argument that there is some urgency if we allow some kids who are creating some risk to be in the system for another 12 years before they’re out and then start with kids at the beginning,” Petit told reporters during a hastily called news conference during a committee recess that lasted nearly four hours. “There are a lot of small details we can perhaps get into.”
Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, a medical doctor and vice chair of the commitee, said he’d like grandfathering to be extended to families whose children currently have an exemption, to avoid scenarios in which some children in a family are able to attend school with a religious exemption but others are not.
That’s acceptable because the level of vaccinations in Connecticut hasn’t yet dipped below 95 percent, he said.
“The trajectory is against us, the trajectory tells us we are heading towards a dangerous unvaccinated number in the state, especially in some schools. While we are in that direction, we have not reached the threshold collectively, so we have an opportunity to have grandfathering for people,” Anwar said.
But there is a need to take action, despite the current levels, he said. “When you have a certain number of unvaccinated individuals in the community, the risk increases,” he said. People are more worried about the side effects of the vaccines than of the diseases they protect against because “for the past 60 years, you have not seen the faces of these illnesses,” he said.
After the hearing ended, Anwar spoke with more than two dozen of the opponents of the bill gathered in the lobby, while some asked questions and others shouted. He explained his position, sternly but calmly, in a low voice in the raucous atrium.
“With every single vote that we take, we should feel comfortable looking them in the eye and explaining why you are doing this,” he said. “It is their right to know that and it is my responsibility to talk to them about it.”
“It’s an important and very emotional issue for a lot of people,” he said.
Sen. Heather Somers of Groton, the other ranking Republican on the committee, said that Democrats developed the legislation without consulting GOP lawmakers. “The arrogance of the majority party cannot be under-estimated here today,” said Somers, who was a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014.
During the meeting, she called for a “reset on what we’re trying to do as policy makers,” and said that by repealing the exemption, “we are creating two separate classes of individuals.” Somers also questioned the necessity of some of the vaccines that are currently required to attend school, such as tetanus and hepatitis B.
“The concern right now for Republicans is we have not had an appropriate conversation, in public health, where this conversation belongs and the committee is trying to quick-pitch this bill out of committee, out of the public health hands and to leadership in the Democrat Senate and House,” said Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford. He stressed that the committee has another month before its deadline.
Democrats who supported the bill expect to continue making changes to its language, they said, setting the stage for further negotiations.
Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, said there are a “significant number of things” to work on. ”
In addition to broadening the grandfathering clause, “I don’t want this to be a blank check for future vaccines to be added,” Anwar said. “We will be able to hopefully address that aspect,” he said, which was a concern raised by committee members who worry that the number of vaccines required to attend school will increase. “I want to make sure that children with special needs do not lose their education,” Anwar added.
Several legislators spoke about the weight of the vote, calling it the most intense of their career.
About 4,000 people came to the Capitol last week for the committee’s public hearing on the bill, which started late Wednesday morning and finished early Thursday morning. More than 500 people signed up to speak.
As they did last week, some carried signs Monday, including ones that read “if it’s mandated, are we free?” and “Pharma is not my God.” Many wore stickers, reading “kill the bill” and “vote for shots, lose your spots.”
State Capitol Police arrested one person during the protest: Rita Palma, 56, of Bluepoint, N.Y. was charged with disorderly conduct and interference with the General Assembly. She was released on a misdemeanor summons and a promise to appear in court.