MONTGOMERY, AL— For every school year, Alabama kids must get all of their shots. When it comes to religious views, one lawmaker said the government can only do so much.
Alabama law says that if a parent wants to keep their child from getting a vaccine, they must get a written warning from the county health department. The Senate Education Policy Committee passed a bill by State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) to change the system for not having to get a shot.
The bill says that written comments from parents are the only proof needed to get exemptions. Orr said that many of his voters have told him they are sad.
“Parents have told me they went to the county health service and were unhappy. It took me an hour or two to get to the right person, and then a government worker started asking me why I believe the things I do, Orr said.
But because of this bill, Dr. Nola Ernest, head of the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said kids could get diseases that can be avoided.
For doctors, Ernest said, “the rise in religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccines makes us a little scared.” “Many of us haven’t practiced whenever there were a lot of diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines.”
Orr said the bill is about giving parents the right to faith waivers.
Orr said, “But we need to get the government out of the business of finding out or probing people’s religious beliefs.”
The bill then goes to the floor for a vote after going through the committee.
