Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that bans non-medical exemptions for immunizations, including the religious exemption for immunizations. The ban was in response to the state’s ongoing measles outbreak that has led to hundreds of confirmed cases since Fall 2018. New York joins California, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Maine as the fifth state outlawing non-medical exemptions for vaccines.
Students without a medical exemption must receive vaccinations for poliomyelitis, mumps, measles, diphtheria, rubella, varicella, hepatitis B, pertussis, tetanus, and, where applicable, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), meningococcal disease, and pneumococcal disease.
Unvaccinated students in New York have until July 13, 2019, to show school officials that they have both received at least the first dose in each age appropriate immunization series and scheduled appointments to complete the immunization series.