The New Jersey Legislature, seemingly on the verge of passing one of the strictest vaccine laws in the nation on Monday, postponed a final vote on a bill that would have ended religious exemptions to vaccine requirements for students enrolled in any school or college, public or private.

The decision came amid raucous protests, with dozens of parents and children who oppose mandatory vaccines standing just outside the door to the State Senate stomping and chanting, “Do not touch my child!” Hundreds of other protesters shouted from outside the building.

After the State Assembly passed its version of the bill — 45 to 25, with six abstentions — on Monday afternoon, the bill moved to the Senate, where the vote had been expected to pass by a small margin. But as the evening wore on, lawmakers realized they did not have enough votes.

Cheers from anti-vaccination protesters erupted from the Senate chamber gallery just after 8 p.m. as lawmakers announced the vote would be postponed.