In the face of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, some have alleged religious exemptions have been abused by "anti-vaxxers" who believe vaccines are harmful despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In neighboring New York, medical organizations and county health officials on Monday called for eliminating that state's religious exemptions for vaccines and allowing only medical exemptions. Last week, the Maine state Senate moved to end philosophical exemptions to vaccines but stopped short of ending religious exemptions. "They want to stop people who they think are abusing the religious exemption and that is incorrect. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, all but Mississippi, West Virginia and California grant religious exemptions.

Source: Fox News May 06, 2019 21:42 UTC