Note: this article has been edited for accuracy.
CV NEWS FEED // The New Jersey Public Health Innovation Political Actions Committee (NJ PHIPAC) held an online conference on October 8 opposing the Archdiocese of Newark’s policy against accepting religious exemptions for student vaccines.
The conference panelists discussed how the policy denies a Catholic education to unvaccinated children, giving them no other option than to attend public school where they may be exposed to values opposed to the Catholic faith, why parents would oppose vaccines for religious reasons, and whether unvaccinated children pose a threat to others at school.
New Jersey’s religious exemption policy states: “When a parent or guardian submits a written, signed request for exemption from mandatory immunization(s) due to religious beliefs, the statement should be accepted and the religious exemption granted.”
However, the policy does not apply to Catholic or other religious schools, as the policy states that these organizations “have the authority to withhold or grant a religious exemption from the required immunization for pupils entering or attending their institutions without challenge by any secular health authority.”
Panelist Felicia Milelli, the chair of NJ PHIPAC’s Board of Directors, explained that medical exemptions are extremely difficult to obtain in New Jersey, and they are typically only granted if the child will die as a result of the vaccine.
The conference then addressed one of the strongest objections against religious exemptions: that unvaccinated children pose a health threat. They reiterated that public schools in NJ have allowed religious exemptions for decades without issue. Since only about 3% of students in NJ use religious exemptions, herd immunity protects the general population.
Fellow panelist Nicole stated that medical exemptions are not granted in the case of previous dangerous reactions, including seizures and limb swelling, or a family history of siblings or parents dying after receiving a vaccine. She later stated, however, that parents of these vulnerable children could file for a religious exemption out of the Catholic belief in the dignity of the body.
Nicole also argued against the opinion that children unvaccinated for religious reasons pose a threat to vulnerable children who are unvaccinated for medical reasons. She explained “herd immunity,” the idea that if enough people in a given population are vaccinated, those who are vulnerable are not at any risk of infection.
“We have greater than a 95% sample size of students who attend schools with religious exemptions without any public threat,” she stated, continuing that only 3% of public school students use a religious exemption. She argued that if 3% of Catholic school students used a religious exemption, the number would still be above the threshold for herd immunity.
Nicole also gave evidence for a Catholic’s strongest moral argument against certain vaccines: the use of aborted fetal tissue in research and ingredients. She stated that the school-mandated vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and chickenpox are always made with tissue from aborted fetuses.
The Pontifical Academy for Life stated in 2005 that, “There is a grave responsibility to use alternative vaccines and to make a conscientious objection with regard to those which have moral problems.”
However, the Academy also granted that in certain cases, it may be necessary to use these vaccines that have no alternative:
As regards the vaccines without an alternative, the need to contest so that others may be prepared must be reaffirmed, as should be the lawfulness of using the former in the meantime insomuch as is necessary in order to avoid a serious risk not only for one’s own children but also, and perhaps more specifically, for the health conditions of the population as a whole—especially for pregnant women.
Those interested can sign the petition to end Newark’s policy here.