More doctors asked about delaying or refusing childhood vaccines, study says

The American Academy of Pediatrics said if pediatricians cannot convince parents about the safety and importance of vaccines, it's okay to drop the families as a last resort. (Erika Schultz/The Seattle Times/TNS)

(Erika Schultz)

TRENTON -- The number of New Jersey school children who skipped vaccines for religious reasons topped 9,500 in the 2015-16 school year, according to the state health department.

That number has been steadily climbing but represents just 2 percent of New Jersey's the 506,000 preschool, kindergarten, first and sixth graders in the state, according to state data. It's nearly 600 percent higher than the 1,641 whose parents requested a religious exemption a decade ago.

Medical exemptions have steadily declined, with 1,303 requested in the 2014-15 school year compared to 1,592 the previous year.

Under New Jersey's religious exemption policy, parents and guardians can submit a signed statement indicating "immunization interferes with the free exercise of the pupil's religious rights." No other documentation is required.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued a statement saying that as a last resort, it's OK for doctors to stop seeing patients who refuse their shots. The Academy also urged states to repeal laws that have allowed parents to use religion as an excuse for not getting their children inoculated, saying this poses a health risk.

An attempt to make it tougher for New Jersey families to get the religious exemption by requiring they explain how vaccines "would violate, contradict, or otherwise be inconsistent" with their religion failed in the last legislative session. It was opposed by the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice, which said lawmakers should not judge a parent's religious beliefs.

Among New Jersey counties, Hunterdon had the highest percentage of religious exemption requests (4.8 percent), while Hudson had the lowest (0.9 percent).

Here is a county-by-county breakdown of how many school children have been granted exemptions from vaccines:

Atlantic: 264, representing 1.8 percent of all students

Bergen: 1,367, 2.5 percent

Burlington: 397, 1.6 percent

Camden: 343, 1.2 percent

Cape May: 115, 2.8 percent

Cumberland: 145, 1.5 percent

Essex: 770, 1.5 percent

Gloucester: 244, 1.6 percent

Hudson: 349, 0.9 percent

Hunterdon: 294, 4.8 percent

Mercer: 247, 1.1 percent

Middlesex: 545, 1.2 percent

Monmouth: 1,189, 3.5 percent

Morris: 783, 2.7 percent

Ocean: 715, 2.5 percent

Passaic: 520, 1.7 percent

Salem: 42, 1.3 percent

Somerset: 410, 2.2 percent

Sussex: 226, 3.4 percent

Union: 402, 1.2 percent

Warren: 139, 3.0 percent

State total: 9,506, 1.9 percent

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.