Opponents of mandatory vaccinations for public school dominate hearing
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School buses are parked in neat rows at the Trumbull school bus depot at 81 Spring Hill Road in Trumbull, Conn. on Wednesday, April 1, 2020.Brian A. Pounds/Hearst Connecticut Media
Dozens of parents on Tuesday threatened to move out of the state and at least one suggested legal action if the General Assembly makes them vaccinate their kids to attend public and private school.
The hearing that was set to last 24 hours, until Wednesday morning, was over lawmakers’ attempt to severely limit exemptions to the mandatory vaccination of school children for measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases, ending religious objections.
Legislators hear testimony on proposals to eliminate religious vaccine exemption
Hearing is expected to run 24 hours
A public hearing on the religious exemption bill last year drew crowds to the state Capitol and ran for more than 21 hours. This year’s hearing is expected to last 24 hours.
Tensions flared Tuesday as parents, educators, and others testified for and against bills that would remove Connecticut’s religious exemption from mandatory school vaccinations.
Nearly 2,000 people signed up to speak at a public hearing that began at 9 a.m. and is expected to run no more than 24 hours. Leaders of the Public Health Committee imposed the time restriction, saying that if everyone who signed up to testify were permitted to speak, the hearing would last for days. Each speaker was limited to three minutes.
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