Legislation Details:

UPDATE: 7/26/2023 - S.1391 was heard in the Joint Committee on Public Health on 7/26/2023, but no vote was taken. Continue to contact Committee Members and your legislators to OPPOSE. Please follow instructions in this action alert: https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/State-Teams/My-State/Action-Alert-Details-Alt/itemid/3641/State/MA?Page=True.

See Corresponding Action Alert

UPDATE: 7/14/2023 - S.1391 is scheduled for a hearing in Joint Committee on Public Health on Wednesday, 7/19/2023 from 9:00AM-6:00PM in the Gardner Auditorium. The agenda is HERE. 

UPDATE 2/16/2023 - S.1391 was referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health on 2/16/2023.

SD 2026 was posted on 1/20/2023.  This bill is sponsored by Senator Kennedy. 

This bill would eliminate the 3rd paragraph of Section 15 of chapter 76 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition.  This is the current law that allows for religious exemptions to vaccines required for school. 

Current law - https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter76/Section15 

Section 15. No child shall, except as hereinafter provided, be admitted to school except upon presentation of a physician's certificate that the child has been successfully immunized against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles and poliomyelitis and such other communicable diseases as may be specified from time to time by the department of public health.

A child shall be admitted to school upon certification by a physician that he has personally examined such child and that in his opinion the physical condition of the child is such that his health would be endangered by such vaccination or by any of such immunizations. Such certification shall be submitted at the beginning of each school year to the physician in charge of the school health program. If the physician in charge of the school health program does not agree with the opinion of the child's physician, the matter shall be referred to the department of public health, whose decision will be final.

3rd paragraph to be eliminated:

In the absence of an emergency or epidemic of disease declared by the department of public health, no child whose parent or guardian states in writing that vaccination or immunization conflicts with his sincere religious beliefs shall be required to present said physician's certificate in order to be admitted to school. 

This bill also requires the department to annually publish and make publicly available aggregate immunizations and exemptions data for each school and school district.  The department may also publish data by municipality, county, or other geographic designation, or otherwise in its discretion.