NY Lawmakers Try Again To Limit Vaccine Exemptions

The Hudson Journal-News reports:

State legislators are pushing to end non-medical exemptions to vaccinations for school-aged children, as measles cases in Brooklyn, Queens and Rockland County have reached 425.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman and state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, the main sponsors of the bills, were joined by medical professionals and State Sen. David Carlucci, D-New City, Thursday afternoon on the steps of City Hall to call for support of the legislation.

Similar bills to end religious exemptions in New York failed in the 2015-16 and 2017-18 legislative sessions. New York would become the fourth state that allows only medical exemptions for vaccinations, following California, Mississippi and West Virginia.

CBS News reports:

A judge in upstate New York on Friday lifted the ban on unvaccinated children in public places despite 166 confirmed measles cases, most of which have been in the local ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. According to the judge, the number of measles cases in the county did not meet the legal requirement for an emergency order, CBS New York reports.

Officials in Rockland County, New York issued an emergency order on March 26 that prohibited unvaccinated children under the age of 18 from going out in public spaces for 30 days. Public places affected by the order included shopping centers, businesses, restaurants, schools, and places of worship.