SB587:

State Health Commissioner; powers in epidemic, religious tenets or practices.

Bill Summary:

Powers of State Health Commissioner in epidemic;
vaccine; religious tenets or practices. Allows a parent or guardian
to object to the vaccination or immunization of a child on the grounds
that the administration of immunizing agents conflicts with his religious
tenets or practices, even if an emergency or epidemic of disease
has been declared by the State Board of Health, which is not allowed
under current law. The bill also provides that nothing shall preclude
the State Health Commissioner from requiring immediate immunization
of all persons in the case of an epidemic of any disease of public
health importance for which a vaccine exists other than a person,
including a parent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objects
on the grounds that the administration of the vaccine conflicts with
his religious tenets or practices. Under current law, the only exception
to the Commissioner's power to require immediate immunization of all
persons in case of an epidemic of any disease of public health importance
for which a vaccine exists is for a person to whose health the administration
of a vaccine would be detrimental as certified in writing by a physician
licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth.