🔴 New bill would make vaccine registry opt-in by default

🔴 Health officials could prevent opt-outs during public health emergencies

🔴 Critics say it could push people away from getting vaccinated


TRENTON — Lawmakers want to give health officials the power to make New Jersey's vaccine registry mandatory during public health emergencies.

Democrats passed a bill (S1956) to make the state vaccine registry opt-out by default on a partisan 5-3 vote in the state Senate Health Committee last month.

Vaccination records will remain private even if the bill passes, according to the committee chair and the bill's prime sponsor, Sen. Joe Vitale, D-Middlesex. Exemptions, such as medical or religious reasons, would also remain unchanged.

"This isn't some grand conspiracy to take away anyone's autonomy or choice," Vitale said.

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Herd immunity at risk?

Sen. Vitale said making the vaccine registry automatically enroll New Jersey residents unless they opt out will help state officials keep track of overall numbers and adjust outreach campaigns if necessary.

For example, measles vaccine rates in many parts of New Jersey had dropped below the 95% threshold widely considered necessary for herd immunity, according to pediatrician Dr. Jennifer Chuang.

In Ocean County, only 86% of kindergartners meet vaccination requirements, Chuang said.

Vaccine registry restrictions during public health emergencies?

While the bill allows individuals to opt out of automatic enrollment in New Jersey's vaccine registry, there is a significant exception.

If the bill is signed into law, state officials may deny a request to disenroll from the registry in the following situations:

🔴 a declared public health emergency;

🔴 a state of emergency;

🔴 an outbreak of a communicable disease; and

🔴 the immediate threat of an outbreak of a communicable disease.

Sen. Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, voted against moving the bill out of the health committee.

"Now they're automatically put into a registry because of any sort of potential threat of any sort of outbreak, even if it's inapplicable to why the person's going in," Schepisi said.

She said preventing individuals from disenrolling could push them away from getting vaccinated.

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