A bill that would have made it easier for parents to exempt their children from vaccine requirements failed to advance out of the Alabama Legislature this year.
SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would have allowed parents to claim religious exemptions from vaccines for their children without requiring them to state a reason. The bill would have also required public colleges and universities to provide medical and religious exemptions to vaccine or testing requirements.
But despite the bill’s failure to become law, one lawmaker said he’s committed to reintroducing the bill and feels confident it will pass in the next session.
“I plan to bring it back and continue to fight. We’re going to keep chipping away until we feel like we’ve got our liberties back,” said Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, who introduced a companion bill in the House, in a phone interview Monday.
A bill that would have made it easier for parents to exempt their children from vaccine requirements failed to advance out of the Alabama Legislature this year.
SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would have allowed parents to claim religious exemptions from vaccines for their children without requiring them to state a reason. The bill would have also required public colleges and universities to provide medical and religious exemptions to vaccine or testing requirements.
But despite the bill’s failure to become law, one lawmaker said he’s committed to reintroducing the bill and feels confident it will pass in the next session.
“I plan to bring it back and continue to fight. We’re going to keep chipping away until we feel like we’ve got our liberties back,” said Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, who introduced a companion bill in the House, in a phone interview Monday.
The bill would have allowed parents or guardians to object to vaccination or testing requirements by submitting a written statement stating that the vaccination or testing conflicts with their religion as valid grounds for exemption from any school enrollment vaccine or testing requirement. It also specified that no additional forms, fees or documentation could be required of the parent, guardian or child for enrollment in any public K-12 school. The bill would have also extended these provisions to public colleges and universities.
Alabama’s measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination rate among kindergartners was 93.8% in the 2023-2024 school year, under the 95% rate set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to achieve herd immunity. An ongoing outbreak in West Texas that started with two unvaccinated school-age children in January has now spread to at least 29 other states.
Orr said in a phone interview Friday that an amendment added by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, which he said proponents of the bill did not like, likely kept the bill from advancing in the House. The amendment would have required a student claiming a vaccine exemption to submit a board-approved physical evaluation form or the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Preparticipation Physical Education form, but it did not have an enforcement mechanism or sanctions for not submitting the form.
“Among the proponents, they were not happy with the Singleton amendment put on in the Senate,” Orr said. “And among the opponents, they still want to stay with the status quo, which is a bit unnecessary, in my opinion.”
Orr added that the House seemed reluctant to take up controversial bills toward the end of the session, adding that Butler would have to be asked for the specific reasons the bill didn’t make it to the House floor.
The bill passed the House Health Committee two weeks before the session ended, giving it enough time to be considered by the House, but Butler said that tension between the House and Senate toward the end of the session only allowed a number of priority bills to be passed.
“I don’t think it was a priority either. The Back-the-Blue (package) was the big priority there at the last minute, which we did get across, but we have got to do a better job of waiting until the last minute on everything,” Butler said.
Apriell Hartsfield, Kids Count director for VOICES for Alabama Children, who opposed the bill in its House committee hearing, said Monday that she was concerned about the potential impact on children’s health and safety if similar legislation becomes law in the future.
She said that declining vaccination rates can threaten community health, potentially leading to outbreaks and increased risk for everyone. She added that fewer vaccinated people lead to a higher risk for others, especially those who are immunocompromised or too young to be fully immunized.
“Our biggest concern are the most vulnerable of the children, and those are the children who are immunocompromised, so that they cannot, medically and for health reasons, get the immunizations, and then, of course, the youngest children, those who are too young to be fully immunized,” Hartsfield said.
She said the existing process already allows parents to claim a religious exemption for required vaccines, and safeguards are in place to help public health officials address outbreaks effectively.
Butler said he was concerned about the alleged adverse effects of vaccines, particularly the COVID-19 vaccine, saying that “we’re seeing so much, so many adverse effects from mainly the COVID vaccine, and now they’re still pushing that out.” While rare adverse reactions related to the COVID-19 vaccine have been reported, such as anaphylaxis or myocarditis, the vaccine is considered safe, and these reactions are significantly less common than the severe health risks of a COVID-19 illness.
Hartsfield said that discussions on the COVID-19 vaccine and school-required immunizations shouldn’t be grouped together and that it’s essential that parents and guardians understand the decades of research behind immunizations required in schools. She said that parents can’t truly make an informed decision “if we are reducing not just the accessibility to the vaccinations, but the accessibility to the information.”
“A lot of the misinformation that’s out there, a lot of these things have been debunked over and over and again. It is the right of the parent to choose, but I think it’s important that parents know what they’re choosing, and that is where public health helps with that,” she said.
Hartsfield also pointed to the economic impact that limiting vaccine access could have on the state and communities, saying that non-immunized children exposed to measles must be out for 21 days, which could impact working families. She also said that a measles outbreak or even a single case in a child care setting, which already faces challenges, could force closures.
“Alabama is right in the middle of states that have outbreaks. We don’t have one yet, but as Dr. Scott Harris has said, it’s really not a matter of if but when this is going to happen in Alabama,” she said.
There were 1,024 confirmed measles cases across 30 states as of May 15, according to the CDC, where 96% of individuals are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status.
