HARTFORD, Conn — The marathon public hearing on vaccine exemptions for school children wrapped up Wednesday morning after 24 hours.
People across the state weighed in on two bills that would get rid of Connecticut’s current religious exemptions that parents can claim for required school vaccinations.
“I never thought that my children’s religious status would be the way they learned about segregation and discrimination,” said parent Diane Wilson.
“When you’re considering this bill I want you to imagine you’re child is medically unable to receive the vaccine. Is it okay for others to put your child at risk of severe illness when there’s an effective way to minimize,” said medical student Kyle Kulas.
Nearly 2,000 people signed up to speak during the public hearing. However, leaders of the Public Health Committee imposed a 24-hour time limit, so not everyone had the chance to give their testimony.
Republicans on the Public Health Committee hosted a press conference after the hearing to address concerns with the public hearing process.
“The process that the Democratic majority on this committee had decided on to prematurely, in my opinion, end this hearing where nearly 1,500 people were not allowed to speak does not honor the right to petition our government and to be able to have your grievances heard,” said Republican State Sen. Heather Somers.
“There’s a lot of confusion over this, and I would have preferred to have people come together and work up to try to find common ground if not this session then next session,” said Republican State Rep. Whit Betts.
Democrats acknowledged those who didn’t get the chance to speak during the public hearing as they plot their next steps.
“We acknowledge there are a lot of people out there that would have wished to be able to present their point of view to this committee over the last 24 hours. We wanna hear from you and we encourage you to submit written testimony,” said Democratic State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, who is the House Chair of the Public Health Committee.
Rep. Steinberg said the committee will take about a week to go through that written testimony before moving forward.