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New York lawmakers vote to end religious vaccination exemptions

Jun 14, 2019 12:59 am
Nick Niedziadek and Shannon Young report for Politico that a bill to end religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements narrowly got through the state legislature June 13, with little support from Republicans and not all Democrats on board. Before the vote, the gallery looking over the State Assembly was full of opponents of the bill, who rained down expletives upon lawmakers for several minutes before being removed by state police. There has been a measles outbreak in New York State since last fall, with 558 people catching the preventable disease in New York City, and another 336 measles cases in the rest of the state. Many of the measles cases were in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law just after it passed the in the legislature. "While I understand and respect freedom of religion," Cuomo said in a statement, "our first job is to protect the public health and by signing this measure into law, we will help prevent further transmissions and stop this outbreak right in its tracks." Read the full story at Politico.