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New York is set to eliminate a religious exemption to vaccine requirements in the face of its worst measles outbreak in decades. The Democrat-led Senate and Assembly voted Thursday to repeal the exemption, which allows parents of children to cite their religious beliefs to opt a child out of the vaccines required for school enrollment. (Klepper, 6/13)

The Legislature’s approval added New York to a small handful of states that do not allow exemptions on religious grounds, including California, West Virginia, Mississippi and Arizona. The issue is particularly germane in New York, where many measles cases have originated in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and in Rockland County, where so-called vaccine symposiums have featured speakers that encouraged people to shun vaccines. (McKinley, 6/13)

“The only way to stop the outbreak of measles — a dangerous and sometimes fatal disease — is to make sure as many children as possible are vaccinated,” said Dr. Linda P. Fried, dean of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “The New York Senate’s passage of critical legislation to eliminate non-medical exemptions from childhood vaccination requirements is a vital step towards protecting all New Yorkers — including vulnerable children — from this grave public health emergency.” (Axelrod, 6/13)

All states have laws requiring various vaccines for students and all allow for medical exemptions. Many also grant parents the right to exempt their children from the vaccines for religious reasons, and a smaller number for philosophical reasons. But the tide of public opinion has been changing as measles cases this year have already surged to the highest levels since 1992. (Rosenberg, 6/13)

The New York bill nearly died on Thursday during a vote in the Assembly’s health committee. The committee initially voted 13-13, but Assemblyman Nader Sayegh, a Democrat from Yonkers, switched his vote to be in favor of the bill, allowing it to advance to the floor. He voted against it in the chamber-wide vote. The Assembly passed the bill on a 77-53 vote and the Senate approved it 36-26. During the floor debate on Thursday, both Democratic and Republican Assembly members expressed concern over the scope of the bill, citing potential violations of constitutional religious-freedom protections. (Blint-Welsh, 6/13)

Mailchimp is blocking anti-vaccination content from its platform, calling the spread of misinformation a "serious threat to public health." The marketing service said in a statement Thursday it shut down a number of accounts for anti-vaccination content that violate its terms of use. "Spreading misinformation about the safety and efficacy of vaccines poses a serious threat to public health and causes real-world harm. We cannot allow these individuals and groups to use our Marketing Platform to spread harmful messages and expand their audiences," a Mailchimp spokesman said. (Klar, 6/13)