The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
No basis for vaccine exemptions in Judaism
In the midst of a polio epidemic in 1959, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a law requiring vaccinations for all children attending school. The Assembly carved out a religious exemption as a “safeguard to protect religious beliefs,” a worthy commitment to the principle of separation of church and state upon which our nation was founded.
Sadly, the religious exemption has been misused ever since — never more so than in recent years. In 2003-04 the state counted 316 students claiming the religious exemption. Today there are four times as many.
This is due neither to some increase in religiosity among Connecticut residents nor to faith groups issuing more restrictive guidelines. It is due simply to parents exploiting the religious exemption system for their own anti-vaccination purposes. Currently, any parent may submit a form or write a letter claiming a religious exemption. The exemption does not require the endorsement of a religious leader of any kind.
That’s why the General Assembly has returned to this question in the current session with the aim of eliminating the religious exemption for vaccinations.
As a rabbi, I can say this: Recognized authorities across the Jewish religious spectrum have plainly declared that there is no basis at all in Judaism for any religious exemption. Moreover, there a clear Jewish religious obligation to protect the health of our own children and to protect others through vaccination.
All three major Jewish religious denominations in the United States have made unequivocal statements supporting mandatory vaccinations. The Orthodox Union, the largest Orthodox Jewish congregational organization in the United States, and the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest organization of Orthodox rabbis in North America, have made it clear that vaccinations are not only permitted by Orthodox Jewish law, they are obligatory.
The Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has ruled that timely vaccinations are “a basic and necessary requirement for appropriate pediatric care.” Rabbi Joseph Prouser of the CJLS argues that “unless medically contraindicated for specific children, in extraordinary and compelling cases, parents have an unambiguous religious obligation to have their children immunized against infectious disease.” The ruling concludes, “Failure to immunize children against vaccine-preventable disease is a serious, compound violation of Jewish Law: there is no basis in (Jewish law) to support a parent’s request for a religious exemption from state-mandated immunizations.”
Reform Judaism, too, holds that vaccination is obligatory. The Central Conference of American Rabbis, the professional organization of Reform Rabbis, issued a ruling on Compulsory Immunization in 1999. It states, “Jewish tradition would define immunization as part of the mitzvah of healing and recognize it as a required measure, since we are not entitled to endanger ourselves or the children for whom we are responsible by refusing proven medical treatment.” The ruling clearly endorses “programs of compulsory immunization in our communities, with exemptions granted only to those individuals whose medical conditions place them at particular risk of injury or untoward side effects. Aside from those individual cases, there are no valid Jewish religious grounds to support the refusal to immunize as a general principle.”
With these rulings in mind, it is especially disheartening to see that some Jews have cited a so-called “religious exemption” to evade their responsibility to vaccinate. We have recently witnessed diseases once considered eradicated again harming children and families when vaccinations against them are not vigilantly performed. Doing so puts our own children and other children at risk, in clear violation of Jewish tradition.
Rabbis across Connecticut have come together to urge legislators to eliminate the religious exemption. We sincerely wish good health upon all children in our state, and fully support the General Assembly’s efforts in that direction.
As a rabbi, I can say this: Recognized authorities across the Jewish religious spectrum have plainly declared that there is no basis at all in Judaism for any religious exemption.