Religious Exemption and Immunizations

According to an article on Yahoo News, a federal judge has approved an agreement which barred the state of Wyoming Department of Health, “from holding hearings to determine whether parents who object to immunizations for their children have sincere religious convictions about the issue.”

Reportedly, officials in Wyoming had made the hepatitis B vaccine injection a mandatory procedure in order for kids to get into public school. Parents that objected the jab based on the “religious exemption” were questioned about the sincerity of their religious conviction, according to the article.

The judge ruled that holding hearings to determine whether a parents faith was “sincere” was a violation to ones constitutional right to freedom of religion. According to the article, “The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents in March, saying such hearings are illegal.”

A civil rights attorney stated that the hearings probably marked the first time in American history in which a state required residents to prove their “religious sincerity.”

According to the article, the health department in the state had made the vaccinations mandatory, “contending it had a duty to protect children from disease and that too many non-immunized children would endanger other children.”

Yahoo News: Judge Backs Parents on Immunizations
Search Planet Chiropractic: hepatitis B