State Senate amends vaccine exemption bill; vote on new bill expected Monday

The New Jersey State Senate has voted 17-15 to amend a bill that would end religious exemptions for vaccines.
The Senate made the decision to amend the bill as a very large group opposed to the bill rallied outside the State House in Trenton.
If passed, the law would end most exemptions for the vaccines needed for children to attend school in New Jersey.
NJ.com reports that the amended bill changes it so that private schools and day care centers can have the freedom to accept non-vaccinated children, but they must make public how many children enrolled have not been inoculated.
The original bill passed in the state Assembly in December, but the measure stalled in the state Senate before the end of the year.
A very large and vocal group opposed to the bill have been calling on lawmakers to reject the legislation. Those opposed cite various reasons for their opposition from believing that vaccines are unsafe to saying that that law represents an overreach of government, to trampling on their First Amendment religious freedoms.
The state Assembly and Senate are expected to vote on the amended bill on Monday.