Non-medical vaccination exemptions are increasing

By Mathew Goldstein

The rate of non-medical school vaccination exemptions granted to students in Maryland on parental request, based on the Maryland census as reported by the CDC, has been increasing. Here are the numbers:

2023-24  out of 63,224 students

Any Exemption 2.2% 1,393

Medical Exemption 0.7% 451

Non-Medical Exemption  1.5% 942

2022-23 out of 59,684 students:

Any Exemption 1.9% 1,143

Medical Exemption 0.5% 307

Non-Medical Exemption  1.4% 836

2021-22 out of 53,866 students

Any Exemption 1.5% 801

Medical Exemption 0.5% 258

Non-Medical Exemption  1.0% 543

2020-21 out of 65,764  students (census plus voluntary private responses)

Any Exemption 0.9% 610

Medical Exemption 0.2% 109

Non-Medical Exemption  0.8% 501

The non-medical exemption rate in 2018 was 1.1% and in 2019 was 1.0%, so the rate dropped suddenly in 2020 before increasing again. This could be an anomalous two year side effect of the COVID vaccination campaign. Disregarding the 2020-2021 pandemic years, the non-medical exemptions have still increased significantly from the 1.1% reached in 2018 to the most recent 1.5%. Non-medical exemptions are 2-4 times more frequent than medical exemptions.

The Robert F. Kennedy Jr. independent campaign for President that relied on foolish anti-vaccination rhetoric failed. Transactional, sycophant rewarding, self-serving, Trump praised Kennedy after Kennedy endorsed him, saying he would appoint Kennedy to be chair of a commission on vaccine safety and integrity if he moves into the White House. Allowing non-medical exemptions for contagious disease vaccinations that have been carefully empirically vetted for safety and effectiveness is so obviously counterproductive that no more effort should be needed to argue for this assertion than to argue for vehicle seat belts. A recent study found positive correlations between 22 virus infections, some of which can be avoided by vaccinations, and increased risk of experiencing subsequent neurological problems [Nueron, Volume 111, Issue 7P1086-1093.E2April 05, 2023] (reminder: get your annual flu shot). "The largest effect association was between viral encephalitis exposure [avoid with measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine] and Alzheimer’s disease," the researchers write in the study. "Influenza with pneumonia was significantly associated with five of the six neurodegenerative diseases studied. We also replicated the Epstein-Barr/multiple sclerosis association. Some of these exposures were associated with an increased risk of neurodegeneration up to 15 years after infection." Regardless of who is our next president, state laws that grant non-medical contagious disease vaccination exemptions should be retired. Maryland law should also make it mandatory for providers of the state mandated vaccinations to report all such vaccinations to the state vaccination database. 

Furthermore, insofar as state law nevertheless does permit contagious disease vaccination exemptions, or any other exemptions for anything that is by default legally mandated, both religious and non-religious individuals and families should be provided equal opportunity to qualify for that exemption. Laws which unnecessarily single out religious beliefs exclusively as the sole acceptable non-medical justification for obtaining contagious disease vaccination mandate exemptions, as is the case in Maryland (it is plausible that in practice non-religious exemption requests are being granted in Maryland, I do not know if the religious qualification restriction is actually being meaningfully enforced), are improperly biased against non-religious citizens. 

Our Supreme Court should be willing to acknowledge that laws exhibiting this bias against non-religious citizens are in conflict with the Establishment and Equal Protection Clauses of the constitution. As we know, the current Supreme Court majority is unfriendly towards those legal provisions, but we can still ask our state lawmakers to remove this bias from state laws. That these exemption laws are often restricted to religious believers may be a symptom of a desire to limit the harm by limiting the number of exemptions granted while avoiding acknowledging that granting such exemptions is bad policy.