New York’s Attack on Medical Exemptions Gives School Officials Power to Override Doctors on Vaccines

Six years after eliminating religious vaccination exemptions and making it possible for schools to reject valid medical exemptions, New York is cracking down on medical exemptions.

Parents and medical freedom advocates, who say the state’s actions place vulnerable children at risk of further vaccine injury, are calling on state lawmakers to pass legislation that would simplify the medical exemption process.

John Gilmore, executive director of the Autism Action Network, accused the state of “trying to get rid of” the existing exemptions. “They’re really stepping it up right now,” Gilmore said. “People who have had exemptions for 10 years or longer are arbitrarily having their exemptions denied.”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that between the 2018-19 and 2023-24 school years, the number of medical exemptions granted to students in New York dropped to almost zero.