And of course, parents can always choose to not send their kids to school. Children who are home-schooled usually do not have to meet the same vaccine requirements as children who attend public or private schools.
Kinds of Exemptions
People have been trying to get exemptions from vaccine requirements as long as vaccines have been protecting people from vaccine-preventable diseases. Today, vaccine exemptions fall into three main categories:
Medical exemptions: Includes severe allergies to the vaccine or components of the vaccine, immune system disordersPhilosophical exemptions: Also called personal-belief exemptionsReligious exemptions: Based on the tenets of an organized religion that prohibits vaccinating its members
Religious Exemptions
Although some people in religious groups cluster and refuse vaccination, they are often actually claiming personal-belief exemptions and not true religious exemptions. Except in Mississippi and West Virginia, members of these churches and other people who have religious beliefs against immunizations can be exempted from school immunization requirements.
Churches that rely on faith healing including small Christian churches such as Church of the First Born, End Time Ministries, Faith Assembly, Faith Tabernacle, and First Century Gospel Church.The First Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Scientist) believes in healing through prayer and that vaccines aren’t necessary.
Although there are few religions with an absolute objection to vaccines, there are many more groups within other religions who are opposed to getting their kids and themselves vaccinated, which helps explain some of the outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases that have occurred recently. These religious groups include:
Some AmishSome Dutch Reformed churchesSome Muslim fundamentalists
There is no absolute objection to vaccines within these faith traditions, though. Even among the Dutch Orthodox Protestants, there is a subset who describe vaccines “as a gift from God to be used with gratitude” and vaccination rates in these communities have been on the rise. For some Muslim fundamentalists, for example, opposition to the polio vaccine in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan has had much more to do with social and political issues, rather than theological issues. Some have even believed that the polio vaccination effort was a conspiracy to sterilize Muslims in the area. Unfortunately, these are the countries where polio is still endemic.
Recent Outbreaks
Several outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases have ravaged religious communities in North America and Europe since 2010. These include:
At least 16 people in Texas with measles are linked to Eagle Mountain International Church, which is a part of Kenneth Copeland Ministries and is described as “anti-vaccine” and “vaccine-refusing.“At least 21 people in North Carolina with measles are linked to Prabhupada Village, a Hare Krishna community.At least 158 cases of measles in Quebec began in an outbreak that originally started when unvaccinated members of an anti-vaccine eugenics community group took a trip to Disneyland.At least 2,499 cases occurred in the Dutch “Bible belt” with at least one case of measles encephalitis and one death (a 17-year-old girl).Nearly 400 cases of measles in British Columbia were linked to a religious group called the Netherlands Reformed Congregation.Nearly 300 people, mostly connected to Orthodox Jewish communities in Borough Park and Williamsburg, Brooklyn developed measles—the largest outbreak in the United States since the endemic spread of measles was eliminated.
None of these religions doctrinally prohibit their members from getting vaccinated. The Eagle Mountain International Church even had a few vaccine clinics at their church during their measles outbreak.
Unfounded Safety Fears
Even though they are clustered in a church or religious group, for many the root cause of their unwillingness to be vaccinated relates to concerns over vaccine safety that drives them to avoid vaccines—and not any real religious doctrine. While orthodox Hasidic Jews were at the center of the large measles outbreak in New York, for example, most other orthodox Hasidic Jews in New York are fully vaccinated and some have even participated in trials for the mumps and hepatitis A vaccines. So instead of a true religious exemption, these are more of a personal-belief exemption. This phenomenon isn’t rare. In addition to the measles outbreaks described above, there have been clusters of other preventable diseases, including:
A rubella outbreak in Europe, in which 387 cases of rubella occurred in an unvaccinated religious community in the Netherlands. Twenty-nine women got rubella while pregnant. At least three women had babies with congenital rubella syndrome and one pregnancy ended in intrauterine death. Multiple outbreaks of polio among Amish communities, with the latest occurring in 2005, infecting four members of an Amish community in Minnesota. Several cases of Hib disease, including an unvaccinated 7-month-old who died in Minnesota in 2008 and at least three unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated children in Pennsylvania who died in 2009.
An unvaccinated worker may go to one of these countries, catch measles, pertussis, or some other vaccine-preventable disease. They then return home and infect family members and other people in their church congregation who are also anti-vaccine, too young to be vaccinated, or who have a medical contraindication to getting vaccinated.
Vaccine Support From Religious Groups
One study of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks among religious groups found that “while the church was the common link among cases, there was no formal advice regarding vaccination from the church before the outbreak. Instead, vaccine refusal was attributed to a combination of personal religious beliefs and safety concerns among a subgroup of church members.“ Most religions offer no formal advice regarding vaccination. Rather, many religions have clear positions in support of vaccination including:
Catholics: While some people still believe that Catholics are opposed to some vaccines, the Catholic Church is clearly pro-vaccine. Even for the vaccines that some parents question, especially those for hepatitis A, rubella, and varicella, which are cultured in cells that were originally derived from aborted fetuses, the Church teaches that “if no safe, effective alternative vaccines exist, it is lawful to use these vaccines if danger to the health of children exists or to the health of the population as a whole.“Jehovah’s Witnesses: Although Jehovah’s Witnesses had a past opposition to vaccines, in 1952 they stated that vaccination “does not appear to us to be in violation of the everlasting covenant made with Noah, as set down in Genesis 9:4, nor contrary to God’s related commandment at Leviticus 17:10-14.“Jews: Confusion still exists among some people over the fact that since some vaccines contain components with porcine (pig) and gelatin components, then it must be against Jewish dietary laws for their members to be vaccinated. However, the use of vaccines is “judged based on concepts of medical law contained in halachic codes” and is therefore encouraged.Muslims: Except for areas where polio is still endemic, several imams and other Islamic leaders issued clear statements and fatwas describing how immunization is consistent with Islamic principles.Hindus: None of the four major branches of Hinduism are opposed to vaccines and countries that are majority Hindu, including Nepal and India, have high vaccination rates.
A Word From Verywell
Although many of the large outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases occur among religious groups, few religions actually oppose vaccines. Instead, most actively encourage their members to get vaccinated and prevent vaccine-preventable diseases. Additionally, there is absolutely no truth behind the fear that vaccines are not safe. Vaccines save millions of lives each year.
