A bill that would allow parents or guardians to opt their children out of vaccines with a simple note is moving toward a final vote in the Alabama House of Representatives.
The House Health Committee approved Senate Bill 87 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, after a public hearing rife with vaccine misinformation.
Ted Holley told the committee that “research” shows that athletes dropped dead after taking Covid-19 vaccines, that the Covid-19 vaccine has fueled an epidemic of “turbo-cancer” and that religious exemptions could offer relief by preventing children from developing autism.
Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, told the committee that the current process for obtaining a religious exemption to vaccine requirements is too burdensome, to the point that parents feel it is “harassment.”
April Heartsfield, director of the Alabama Kids Count project for Voices for Alabama’s Children, told the committee that the bill would “circumvent the system already in place and effective.”
“This will likely have a significantly negative effect on Alabama children who are immunosupppressed, and infants who are too young for vaccinations,” Heartsfield said. “The system that is already in place for parents to file religious and medical exemptions for vaccinations required for entry to schools allow schools, pediatricians and other healthcare providers to know about and respect these exemptions. It also allows state officials to monitor and identify when and where outbreaks are most likely to occur, and to quickly and effectively deploy resources to contain those outbreaks.”
Heartsfield said the bill could lead to situations like the one in Texas, where an unprecedented modern measles outbreak has led to the deaths of two children after a decade with no measles deaths in the U.S.
Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, told Butler he could not find any religion that “excludes vaccines wholesale.”
“Why don’t we just call this what it is, which is a personal exemption,” Rafferty asked.
Since the Covid-19 vaccine is not required for school, Rafferty asked whether the primary concern is the measles, pump and rubella vaccine, but Butler stood by the Covid-19 vaccine as the origin of the bill.
The bill is now one step away from becoming law, as it can now be placed on the House calendar for a final vote.
