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According to The Defender, Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation to remove religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates.
Other bills proposed in the state legislature would allow minors to consent to “preventative care,” including vaccines.
“If lawmakers pass all three proposed bills, children whose families object to school-mandated vaccinations based on sincerely held religious beliefs will be barred from attending public and private K-12 schools, and minors will be able to consent to ‘preventative care,’ including vaccines, without parental knowledge or consent,” Children’s Health Defense wrote.
🚨 Massachusetts Proposes Laws to Remove Religious Exemptions, Parental Consent for Vaccines
If lawmakers pass all three proposed bills, children whose families object to school-mandated vaccinations based on sincerely held religious beliefs will be barred from attending public… pic.twitter.com/Lkhzcp9b2f
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) April 22, 2025
The Defender reports:
Massachusetts’ lawmakers are also considering An Act Promoting Community Immunity, a bill that would undermine religious exemptions for school-based vaccine mandates and remove parental consent for vaccines in some cases.
According to Health Rights MA, the community immunity bill would:
- Allow minors to consent to preventative care, including vaccination, without parental consent or knowledge.
- Allow private daycares, schools and colleges to refuse religious exemptions and impose additional vaccines like the COVID-19 shots, which are not required by the Department of Public Health (DPH).
- Subject the religious and medical exemptions to state approval.
- Grant DPH expansive authority to change immunization and exemption requirements.
- Require doctors to sign religious exemptions.
- Allow DPH to publicly label programs with immunization rates below a state-defined threshold as “Elevated Risk” and exclude healthy, unvaccinated children, even in the absence of an outbreak or emergency.
Candice Edwards, executive director of Health Action Massachusetts, told The Defender that the state’s Joint Committee on Public Health will soon announce a hearing date for the two bills.
“Massachusetts has introduced legislation to remove religious exemptions and to allow minors to consent to pokes. I know this is not what so many want to hear but if you live in a state that disrespects parental rights, it might be time to consider moving to one that values them,” Health Freedom Defense Fund President Leslie Manookian said.
Massachusetts has introduced legislation to remove religious exemptions and to allow minors to consent to pokes.
I know this is not what so many want to hear but if you live in a state that disrespects parental rights, it might be time to consider moving to one that values them.— Leslie Manookian (@LeslieManookian) April 22, 2025
NEWS: Massachusetts Proposes Laws to Remove Religious Exemptions, Parental Consent for Vaccines
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill to remove religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates and two bills that would allow minors to consent to “preventative care,”… pic.twitter.com/rM361DnWFx
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) April 22, 2025
Per WGBH:
Pro-vaccine advocates are trying to build support for a bill that would get rid of religious exemptions for routine childhood vaccine requirements in Massachusetts’ schools.
Lawmakers held a legislative briefing at the State House on Tuesday about two bills that would remove the non-medical exemption from vaccine requirements as well as improve data collection on immunization rates in Massachusetts.
“Especially with the measles outbreak in Texas, and the national environment being a bit more hostile to vaccines, we feel like this is the time for Massachusetts to kind of protect itself and take a stand and pass this really strong legislation,” said Katie Blair, director of Massachusetts Families for Vaccines. Blair says the grassroots, volunteer-led network advocates for public health and science-based policy related to vaccines.
Rep. Andy Vargas, a Democrat from Haverhill, first filed the bill in 2019 when a constituent with an immunocompromised child expressed fear of sending their child to school knowing that parents can exempt their child from vaccinations for non-medical reasons.
Currently, children in kindergarten through 12th grade are required to be immunized or vaccinated against several diseases , including polio and the measles. But parents can opt their children out of vaccinations for either medical or religious reasons. According to Massachusetts Families for Vaccines, “religious” exemptions in the state have risen by 500% since the 1980s, despite people’s religious affiliations going down.
“This is one concrete thing that we can do here in the commonwealth to ensure that we prevent preventable diseases,” Vargas said. He told GBH News that, in previous sessions, the legislation did not make it out for a vote in time.