Religious freedom

Further provides for the religious vaccine exemption for K-12 students and creates one for students at public colleges and universities. Families should be able to decline vaccines that conflict with their faith, in school and in college.

Requires private schools and church schools to accept religious exemptions to vaccine requirements and provides penalties. A valid religious exemption should be respected at every school a child attends.

These bills would limit exemptions from vaccine requirements set by local governments and private entities to medical exemptions only, and repeal religious exemptions for certain college students. They would push the 2019 repeal even further.

These bills would exempt private and parochial schools and day care centers from the state’s immunization requirements, which would protect Amish and other faith-based schools from the fines they face now.

These companion bills would restore the religious exemption from school vaccination requirements that New York repealed in 2019. That repeal is why Amish schools are being fined today.

The C.H.O.I.C.E. Act revises Ohio’s law on childhood immunizations and exemptions for schools and child care, so parents get clear information about their options, including exemptions for reasons of conscience.