Massachusettss legislators are considering troubling bills to eliminate or restrict vaccination exemptions, reducing accountability and increasing government bureaucracy.  These bills would eliminate religious exemptions, shame schools, and parents, and permit minors to make vaccine decisions without parental knowledge or consent.

S.1391 and H.604 would remove religious belief exemptions for school-required vaccines and grant authority to school physicians to deny medical exemptions, disregarding documentation from the childs own physician.  Additionally, these bills mandate the publication of exemption data.

H.2151 and S.1458 retain medical and religious belief exemptions for mandatory vaccines but impose stringent conditions on these exemptions.  The health department would oversee the existing forms, religious exemptions would necessitate the primary healthcare providers signature, and all exemptions would be subject to review by the department of public health, valid for only one year.  Additionally, the number of exemptions would be made public, and the bills grant minors the ability to consent to vaccination.

Another bill, H.471 would add human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis A vaccines to the list of vaccines required for school.

Each of these bills will be heard in the Joint Committee on Public Health on Wednesday, 7-19-2023.  Help us say NO to these bad vaccine bills today! 

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact your Massachusetts State Senator and urge him/her to OPPOSE S. 1391 and S.1458.

• Contact your Massachusetts State representative and urge him/her to OPPOSE H. 604, H. 2151, and H. 471.

You can look up who represents you at: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator 

• Submit written testimony to Joint Committee on Public Health Members, or attend the hearing scheduled in Joint Committee on Public Health on Wednesday, 7-19-2023 from 9:00 AM-6:00 PM in Gardner Auditorium.

You must sign up by 5 pm on Monday, July 17th to give virtual testimony.  We strongly encourage you to pre-register to testify in person as well.  Same-day registrations may not be accepted if there are a large number of...