Connecticut eliminates religious exemptions for vaccines

Connecticut has eliminated religious exemptions from vaccine requirements for students under a new law signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat.

House Bill 5044 passed both chambers of the legislature along partisan lines and took effect after Lamont signed it. The law says the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not apply to vaccine mandates for children in childcare, public schools, private schools and colleges.

The law bars people from using religious freedom protections to avoid vaccine requirements tied to education.

Republicans said the change removes a protection for parents making decisions about their children.

“This isn’t about vaccines. It’s about freedom,” Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, said. “Free people don’t ask permission to make decisions about their own bodies or their children.”

Republican congressional candidate Daniel Miressi also criticized the law.

“’My body, my choice’ — unless it’s you/your family? CT just passed a bill, handing one unelected commissioner power to mandate vaccines for kids AND adults while stripping religious exemptions from school requirements,” Miressi posted on X. 

“A direct threat to a fundamental right protected by the 14th Amendment: parents’ RIGHT to steward education, medical care, and raise their children. Congress should pass legislation shielding parental rights from this kind (blue) state overreach,” he added.

Lamont’s office defended the law, pointing to changes at the federal level.

“Last year, the Trump administration, under the leadership of appointee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., removed all 17 sitting members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replaced them with new appointees – at least several of whom have been directly tied to the vaccine skepticism movement,” the governor’s office said.

“Since then, the committee has made attempts to overhaul long-held U.S. vaccine policies by removing vaccines from standard of care schedules,” the statement added.

The law also separates Connecticut’s vaccine standards from those of the federal advisory group, allowing the state to maintain its own requirements.

Religious liberty groups have raised concerns about vaccine mandates without exemptions.

“Across faiths — Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and others — believers object to vaccines, particularly those derived from aborted fetal cell lines, viewing their bodies as sacred temples of God,” a coalition of religious and medical liberty groups wrote in a letter to the Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) last year.

“These sincerely held beliefs, protected by the First Amendment, are unjustly disregarded by New York, California, Connecticut, and Maine, necessitating immediate action to restore religious liberty,” the letter added.