By Keely Larson, March 13, 2023
Keely Larson
(KHN)When Deb Horning’s daughter was 5, she got her measles, mumps and rubella shot like many other kindergartners. But unlike many other moms, Horning had to stay away from her daughter for a week after the shot.
Horning, 51, was diagnosed in 2014 with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive cancer — the five-year survival rate for those older than 20 is 27%. Horning had been through chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, which severely weakened her immune system. Because the MMR vaccine contains live virus, she couldn’t get the vaccine herself and had to temporarily avoid her vaccinated daughter.
Now, Horning is worried about Montana legislation that could compromise her and other immunocompromised people by making it easier for more people to opt out of routine vaccinations.
“If they do allow this, and a significant amount of people don’t vaccinate their kids, then there could be community spread,” Horning said. “And then I’m really in danger, the same as a newborn is in danger.”
In 2021, Montana passed House Bill 702 — the first of its kind in the nation – which prohibited discrimination based on vaccine status in settings like employment, education, and health care. In effect, it banned private businesses and local governments from requiring employees to be vaccinated, not just against covid-19 but any disease.
A federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional in health care settings in a lawsuit filed by hospitals, medical providers, and nurses. Two other lawsuits challenging HB 702, one by private businesses and another by tribal nations, are pending.
This year, lawmakers have introduced proposals to expand vaccine exemptions in schools and change criteria in the workplace and the legal system.
Proponents of the school-related measures include mothers advocating for their parental rights over whether to vaccinate their children, a nurse who maintained that medical choices should be private, and a day care instructor concerned about the connection between vaccines and autism, a claim that has been discredited.
Some experts say those bills, like HB 702 from two years ago, are an overreaction to the fear and anger surrounding the covid pandemic.
Those who promote vaccine exemptions on the grounds of parental rights and individual freedom should be honest about the consequences, said Cason Schmit, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University School of Public Health. Those consequences could include more people sick and dead from preventable diseases, he said.
“We know what the outcomes of these types of laws are,” Schmit said.
According to a study published in 2019 in the Expert Review of Vaccines journal, nonmedical vaccine exemptions have increased over the past two decades in the U.S.
Medical exemptions for vaccines are granted for conditions that could result in adverse reactions to a vaccine, such as a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy. The nonmedical type comprise religious — based on a sincerely held religious belief — and conscience exemptions — based on personal or moral beliefs.
According to Dr. Lauren Wilson, president of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, no state in the last 20 years has implemented a conscience exemption for childhood vaccines. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports philosophical exemptions in 15 states.
Currently, Montana allows exemptions based on religion but not conscience for K-12 school vaccinations, and the religious exemption must be provided on a notarized affidavit. A medical exemption must be signed by a licensed health care provider.
That would change under Senate Bill 450, sponsored by Republican Sen. Daniel Emrich, which would require schools, employers, health care providers, state agencies, and other entities to accept “without question or malice” religious or conscience exemptions pertaining to certain medications, including vaccines. Any entity that doesn’t comply would lose state funding…
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