HARTFORD — Informed Choice Connecticut (ICCT) will announce a campaign calling for the protection of religious exemptions when it comes to vaccines.
The group expressed concerns with the state possibly removing religious exemptions during their regular legislative session. Governor Lamont is recommending the state join a growing number of other states in eliminating the religious exemption to childhood vaccinations.
ICCT said it “would infringe upon a freedom that Connecticut citizens have safeguarded for more than sixty years.”
People at the initiative rally today say they believe it’s their right to chose what goes in to there children’s bodies and that if they aren’t vaccinated, it shouldn’t prevent their right to go to public schools.
One woman we spoke with says vaccines make her five-year-old daughter sick.
“She does have an auto immune disease of the kidney and anytime she does have a vaccine we end up in the hospital. It costs us $7,000 a time,” said Laura Fisher of New Haven.
Meanwhile, many Democrats support Lamont’s recommendation and say it will make schools safer.
“First and foremost we have to make sure we aren’t putting more of our children in danger but if there are people against having vaccines that is there right but we have to protect our school children and make sure they are as healthy as possible,” said State Representative Antonio Felipe (D-Bridgeport)
According to the Department of Public Health between 2018 and 2019, the state had the largest single-year increase in claimed exemptions for vaccinations since the state began tracking the data a decade ago.
