Vaccine debate: In N.J. it's not just Christie who believes in parent choice

UPDATE: Saturday, Feb. 7:

Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald said Friday evening that he is no longer supporting the conscientious objector bill for mandatory immunizations. The South Jersey Democrat is the latest lawmaker to say he has dropped his support from a now-controversial bill that lawmakers from both parties have sponsored for years in Trenton. His name and others still appeared on the bill on the Legislature's website Friday afternoon.

"I believe all children should be vaccinated. When I signed on to sponsor the bill, parents in California and around the country were not abusing the concept of a conscientious or religious exemption the way they are now," Greenwald said Friday evening. "Clearly times have changed and this bill is no longer appropriate, which is why I am removing my name from it."

ORIGINAL STORY: Friday, Feb. 6:

Gov. Chris Christie is not alone in New Jersey.

Nearly two dozen state lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans, including potential gubernatorial candidate and Minority Leader Jon Bramnick and Democratic Majority Leader Louis Greenwald — believe that parents should be able to decide whether or not their children receive mandatory vaccinations.

The topic has become an emotionally charged issue in part because measles, a disease that was declared eradicated in the United States in 2000, has been making a comeback. Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 102 cases of measles in 14 states. New Jersey officials are looking into a possible case here.

And on Monday, Christie set off a firestorm of criticism after saying that "parents need to have some measure of choice" when it comes to immunization. His office later emphasized that he backed vaccinations for diseases such as measles.

WHO SUPPORTS VACCINE CHOICE? Scroll to end of this article to see whether your lawmaker is a sponsor of this legislation.

Experts find the growing trend of parents not vaccinating their children alarming, saying objections are based on junk science and debunked claims linking vaccines to autism.

"All the evidence that casually linked vaccines to autism has been fairly debunked," said Dr. Glenn Fennelly, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "It does not cause autism. Period."

A bipartisan group of New Jersey lawmakers have signed onto legislative proposals to allow for parents to skip required immunizations for their children based on conscientious or philosophical objections. However, at least two lawmakers contacted by MyCentralJersey.com on Friday said they no longer support the proposal.

State law already allows exemption for religious reasons and last year nearly 9,000 students, or about 1.7 percent, were excused from the mandatory vaccines. The state requires school age children to obtain as many as 26 doses of vaccines. Children in child care and prekindergarten also have to get the annual flu shot.

Lawmakers have been pushing for wider loopholes since 2004, but the bills have never left committee for a vote.

Recent headlines, however, have caused at least two sponsors to backtrack their support for the conscientious objector bill.

Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr., D-18th District, said Friday that he moved earlier in the week to have his name removed as sponsor because of the recent measles outbreak and because "concerns of autism no longer apply."

"I think kids should be required to get vaccinated. I changed my opinion after reading up more on it," Diegnan said.

Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, R-13th District, also said he was in the process of removing his name from the bill.

Other lawmakers did not return calls seeking comment about the vaccination bills they sponsored.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-22nd District, said that before she could comment she needed time to review a bill that she has continually attached her named to since 2008.

Some lawmakers have come out forcefully against loosening the requirements on immunizations.

"I don't support it. It's completely wrong for public health," said state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-19th District.

Vitale, who doesn't believe religious exemptions should be allowed at all, and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-37th District, have sponsored bill to make it harder to parents to obtain a religious exemption.

SOUND OFF: Do you think parents should be allowed to decide whether have their children immunized?

Their law would require the exemption to be based on a sworn statement by a "bona fide religious organization."

"Recently there was one quote-unquote minister who was providing these exemptions for $25 for every quote-unquote member of his church. There was no church building," Vitale said. "It's absurd. There is bad information and bad science leading people into thinking that vaccines are dangerous for children."

Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr., D-7th Distict, a medical doctor, has been speaking out in favor of vaccines and against its critics.

"We must do everything we can to dispel the myths and debunk bad science surrounding vaccinations," he said Friday in a statement. "The facts are clear: vaccinations are safe, save lives, and prevent disease. Every child who can be vaccinated, should be vaccinated."

Fennelly says that when parents don't vaccinate their children, they are putting other children and people who cannot be immunized, such as infants under the age of 1, at risk.

Fennelly said he worked in New York City during a measles outbreak in 1990 in which five children died. He thinks many people may not be aware of the risks of these diseases.

"I guess we are somehow detached from that reality," he said. "There is a one in a million chance that a child may have an allergic reaction to a vaccine. Other than that, they are very safe and highly effective and the risk of a resurgence of the measles is a potentially greater danger."

The vaccination debate has made strange bedfellows of liberal and conservatives, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle coming together to push forward the idea that immunizations should not be mandatory.

American skepticism toward vaccinations can be traced back to George Washington's initial reluctance to immunize Revolutionary War soldiers against smallpox.

Recently, Republicans in Maine and Colorado oppose making it difficult to avoid vaccinations. Twenty states allow for personal-belief exemptions and 48 allow for religious exemptions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"There is a long history to the fight against vaccination, and it does seem to break down along liberal versus conservative lines," Kent Schwirian, a sociology professor at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, told The Associated Press. He surveyed people during a 2009 swine flu scare, asking whether they would get vaccinated, and found that conservatives who distrusted government were less likely to support inoculation.

The government recommends that all children get the measles vaccine, receiving the first dose when they are about 1 and a second dose between the ages of 4 and 6. States have made vaccination a requirement for attending school.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com

Who supports vaccine choice?

Sponsors of A153/S1914, providing for "conscientious exemption to mandatory immunizations."

A student seeking a conscientious objection would have to fill out a form. These students would be barred from child care or school during an outbreak.

REPUBLICANS

•State Sen. Gerald Cardinale – 39th District, Bergen County, as primary sponsor.

•State Sen. Michael Doherty – 23rd District, Hunterdon County, as primary sponsor.

•State Sen. Anthony R. Bucco – 25th District, Morris County, as primary sponsor.

•Assemblyman David Rible – 30th District, Monmouth County, as primary sponsor.

•Republican Minority Leader Jon Bramnick – 21st District, Union County, as primary sponsor.

•Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi – 39th District, Bergen County, as primary sponsor.

•Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco – 25th District, Morris County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblyman Scott Rumana – 40th District, Passaic County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblywoman Allison Littell McHose – 24th District, Warren County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon – 13th District, Monmouth County, as cosponsor. (No longer supports the bill.)

•Assemblyman John DiMaio – 23rd District, Hunterdon County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblyman Parker Space – 24th District, Sussex County, as cosponsor.

DEMOCRATS

•Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. – 18th District, Middlesex County, as primary sponsor (no longer supports bills).

•Assemblyman Gary Schaer – 36th District, Passaic County, as primary sponsor

•Assemblyman John McKeon – 27th District, Essex County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblyman Louis Greenwald – 6th District, Burlington County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblywoman Linda Stender – 22nd District, Union County, as cosponsor.

•Assemblyman Ralph Caputo – 28th District, Essex County, as cosponsor.

Sponsors of A536/S1640, which is similar as the above legislation except it provides for "philosophical exemptions."

REPUBLICANS

•Assemblyman John DiMaio – 23rd District, Hunterdon County, as primary sponsor.

•Assemblywoman Allison Littell McHose – 24th District, Warren County, as primary sponsor.

DEMOCRAT

•State Sen. Shirley Turner – 15th District, Mercer County, as primary sponsor.