RFK Jr. addresses Conn. vax skeptics as lawmakers eye axing religious exemption

Despite scientific studies that show vaccines are safe, hundreds of skeptics are urging state lawmakers not to eliminate a provision allowing parents to exempt their children from immunizations for religious reasons.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer whose father, Robert F. Kennedy, served as U.S. attorney general and a U.S. Senator, stoked their mistrust, telling the crowd at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday that the government and the media have formed an alliance with pharmaceutical companies to minimize the health risks posed by vaccines.

“I learned from my dad, don’t trust people in authority,” said Kennedy, whose father was a prominent anti-war activist and a Democratic candidate for president before he was assassinated in 1968. “People in authority lie.”

Kennedy was the main speaker at a forum on vaccines hosted by state lawmakers who are seeking to preserve the religious exemption. A separate informational session featuring Kennedy, along with scientists who endorse immunizations as a way to prevent the spread of disease, had also been scheduled for Tuesday at the Capitol, but that forum was abruptly canceled Monday night after two of the physicians invited to speak pulled out, saying they did not want to provide Kennedy credibility by appearing alongside him.

“Medical professionals began trying to kill the forum because they felt we would be legitimizing debunked claims from someone who has demonstrated the inability to sift through the truth from fiction,” state Rep. Josh Elliott, the Hamden Democrat who organized that event, wrote on Facebook. “I am concerned with the perspective the medical community has taken — in that it is better not to have the conversations publicly. If we believe in the science, we have nothing to be concerned of. We cannot speak to those who are true believers — but there are more out there who are simply uneducated on the science of vaccination.”

Elliott is among those pushing to eliminate the religious exemption.

A national outbreak of measles has prompted some states to propose tighter rules on vaccinations. In Connecticut, which has one of the nation’s highest vaccination rates, all children are required to be immunized against highly contagious viruses such as measles, rubella, mumps and chickenpox before enrolling in public school.

But Connecticut allows parents to opt out of vaccinating their children on religious grounds or for medical reasons. The number of state residents seeking the religious exemption has increased in recent years, alarming some lawmakers. In 2008, 466 children had the religious exemption; last year, the total reached 1,255 schoolchildren, according to the 2018 school survey. That figure includes public and private school kindergartners and seventh-graders.

But others framed the issue as a matter of parental rights. “There’s a lot more discussion that we should be having on this issue,” said Rep. Vin Candelora, R-North Branford. “Everybody has the right to vaccinate their children, just as everyone has the right to exercise the religious exemption.”

Efforts to repeal the exemption did not gain traction in the legislature’s public health committee. But some legislators who want to preserve the provision fear a repeal measure could be tucked into another bill later this spring.

That concern brought together two lawmakers who don’t generally agree on much: Reps. Anne Dauphinais, a conservative Republican from Killingly, and Jack Hennessy, a progressive Democrat from Bridgeport.

“We wanted to be a voice for our constituents who were concerned about mandating vaccines,” Dauphinais said. “They don’t want to be told how to treat their children. They want to look at the risks and benefits, where’s there’s risk there should be choice.”

Dauphinais, who was trained as a nurse and once worked for a pharmaceutical company, said she regretted vaccinating her own children, who are now grown.

Hennessey said he views the issue through the lens of the First Amendment.

Attendees of a presentation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday raise their hands after Kennedy asked: “Raise your hands if you have a family member that has been injured by a vaccine.” (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant)

Multiple studies have refuted claims by Kennedy and other anti-vaccination activists that some vaccines increase the risk for autism or cause injury and sickness. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no link between autism and vaccines and adverse reactions to vaccinations are extremely rare.

Kennedy embraces the science behind climate change but questions studies that show vaccines are generally safe. He says vaccines have left countless children hurt or sickened. At one point, he asked the large crowd at the forum if their children had been injured by a vaccine and dozens of hands shot up.

“We’re here just to share the truth,” said Megan Belval, a mother from Avon, “to protect our right to determine what is injected into our bodies and our children’s bodies. There’s nothing more basic than that.”

https://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-vaccines-connecticut-forum-20190319-nwuvduskrvbbtmge7fz7ke7zne-story.html