Bill allowing broader vaccination opt-outs could be dangerous, expensive for Kentucky

Do you think increasing the number of people without immunizations is a good idea during a pandemic? The Kentucky legislature thinks so and has even declared it an emergency to do so. Yes, the “emergency” is not an infectious disease that has killed thousands of Kentuckians but the threat posed by Governor Beshear’s power to require immunizations.

Claiming to protect the “civil rights” of Kentuckians, Senate Bill 8 requires the state to grant exemptions from immunizations in an emergency for anyone with beliefs against them. Several legislators pointed out they were not personally against immunizations but just didn’t think the state should mandate them. In her support for the bill (which abdicates the legislature’s responsibility for public health), Rep. Kimberly Moser, Chair of House Health and Family Services, placed the responsibility on doctors to persuade their patients to accept vaccines.

Senate sponsor Mike Wilson cited conscientious-objector exemptions from military service. This is not an appropriate rationale for a conscience exemption from immunizations. While the right of individuals to refrain from killing other human beings in wars has been upheld by courts, American courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have consistently ruled for over a century that the state has a constitutional right to require immunizations without exemptions for any kind of beliefs. Refusing a vaccine is not a civil right nor a First Amendment religious right.

SB8 puts Kentucky far out of step with national trends. No state has enacted an immunization exemption for personal beliefs in the past decade. Since 2015 three states have repealed all non-medical exemptions from immunizations and others have repealed or limited the scope of conscience exemptions. This year other state legislatures, such as those of North Dakota and Alabama, are moving bills that mandate joint authority in a public health emergency but also allow public officials to require immunizations without exception for personal beliefs.

Senator Wilson said some of his constituents were afraid the police would break their doors down, tie them up, and vaccinate them for COVID against their will. He could have pointed out to them that the COVID vaccines are made available under emergency use authorization and therefore cannot be mandated. Instead he promoted a bill that allows anyone to refuse immunizations in any public health emergency.

There are other diseases than COVID. Measles may be the most infectious virus on the planet. It causes measles up to two hours after an infected person has left a room. A person can be infectious for days before symptoms appear.

In 1990-1991 a measles outbreak began in Philadelphia schools run by two churches who opposed vaccination. There were 486 cases of measles and six deaths of children in those churches. But the disease also spread to the general population with 938 cases and three child deaths among non-members of those churches. (Paul Offit, M.D., Bad Faith, p. 112)

On Feb. 27, 1991, the mayor of Philadelphia got a court order to force measles vaccination over religious objections of the parents. The ACLU refused to defend the parents and said the state had a compelling interest in stopping the epidemic.

How many more children would have died if Pennsylvania had a law like Kentucky’s SB8?

No fiscal impact statement was prepared on SB8, yet measles outbreaks are enormously expensive. Public Health may have to do contact tracing on whole planeloads of people across continents. Substitute teachers must be hired. Students lose out on activities. Even two or three measles cases can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

SB8 is one of several bills motivated by Republican politicians’ determination to hamstring Governor Beshear. But we may all pay a price for it.

Rita Swan lives in Lexington and is president emeritus of Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty. See www.childrenshealthcare.org.

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 10:27 AM.