The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued an updated policy statement arguing that universal immunization for children is necessary for safety, stating that non-medical exemptions to vaccines are a “deeply problematic tool.”
The statement, centering on vaccines for children attending school, claims that “exempting children for nonmedical reasons from immunizations is problematic for medical, public health, and ethical reasons and creates unnecessary risk to both individuals and communities.”
“Although nonmedical exemptions might seem like reasonable accommodation to lessen the challenges that some families face, the fact is that exemptions are a deeply problematic tool for addressing these challenges,” the AAP wrote. “They inevitably lead to school environments becoming less safe, especially for children unable to be protected by vaccination, and they cannot be applied in a way that ensures that these trade-offs are managed in an equitable way.”
According to the policy statement’s authors, none of the “major world religious traditions” include “scriptural or doctrinal guidelines that preclude adherents from being vaccinated,” arguing that there may be a “moral or religious obligation to seek vaccination.” The authors go on to assert that “in practice, nonmedical exceptions based on religious belief can substantially limit the public health value of vaccine requirements for school attendance,” noting that there is “no practicable way” for schools and other institutions to “distinguish fairly among religious or other nonmedical claims.”
States that permit nonmedical exemptions have had “steady increases” in the number of exemptions, the AAP added. “Religious exemptions have increased for states that do not offer other types of nonmedical exemptions but have, through regulatory language, broadly defined religion for the purposes of obtaining vaccine exemption.”
While all states allow medical exemptions for vaccines, religious exemptions are not universally accepted. States that do not have religious exemptions include California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York. Earlier this year, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey (R) issued an executive order allowing for religious exemptions to school vaccine requirements.
