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Parents and Liu clash over vaccines
Protesters in Bayside angered that senator voted in favor of religious exemption ban
override state law, which only
took “about seven hours” to be
voted in by the Assembly and
Senate and signed into law by
the governor.
According to Michael,
who did not provide his last
name, said that “thousands”
of disabled children were
kicked out of schools “30
days after the bill was
passed.” The educator, who
has been working with
disabled individuals for the
past 17 years, said that the
California government did
not force children out of
schools following the passage
of a similar bill.
Liu showed up during
the course of the rally and
defended his position to the
crowd of protesters.
“I met with you as many
times as you wanted. I took in
your information, I considered
it very carefully against all
the other information that I
was provided with,” said Liu.
“I do have some confidence in
the medical profession and the
city and state Departments
of Health.”
Later on, QNS spoke with
Liu at his reelection event,
where he elaborated further
on his affirmative vote.
“I’m not for government
forcing parents to do things
with their kids unless the
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Bayside parents rallied
against a local lawmaker’s
decision relating to
vaccinations for families with
religious exemptions, which
they said resulted in their
children being kicked out of
school for the upcoming year.
The parents, who staged a
protest outside Senator John
Liu’s reelection campaign
at One Station Plaza bar
last Tuesday, July 9, said
that the senator voted in the
affirmative for a bill that
would repeal all “non-medical
exemptions from vaccination
requirements for children.”
Both the Assembly and
Senate supported the bill,
which Governor Cuomo
signed into law back in June.
Parents of children who
were previously exempt from
vaccines due to religious
beliefs said that they met
with the senator “both at his
local office and in Albany
numerous times to beg him
to stand up for our children,
especially those who
are disabled.”
According to the parents,
the new law means that
26,000 unvaccinated students
in New York state — about
0.5 percent of all students in
the state — will no longer be
Protesters in Bayside argued against John Liu’s vote to ban religious exemptions for vaccinations
exempt from vaccines due
to religious beliefs. Parents
said that many of the affected
children are disabled and
receive Individual Education
Plans (IEP) which include
speech therapy, occupational
therapy, physical therapy and
special education.
Now, following the June
13 Senate vote, many of these
students have been kicked
out of their schools — and
parents alleged that Liu is one
to blame.
They argued not only
that the bill encroached on
their religious freedoms, but
also that it “discriminated”
against certain students
with disabilities, as IEP is
mandated at the state and
federal level.
According to the
Department of Education
website, there are 13 disability
classifications that qualify
students for IEP. These
include autism, deafness,
learning disabilities,
orthopedic disabilities and
traumatic brain injuries.
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
“I have a disabled child.
We met with John Liu on
several occasions. He posed
for pictures with us, he
listened to our concerns — or
so we thought. And then the
morning of the vote, he voted
against us,” said Bonnie
Skala Kiladitis, whose son’s
IEP is federally mandated.
“We’re just concerned about
this because he was elected
to represent us and he did not
do that.”
Kiladitis added that
federally mandated IEP should
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Vol. 28 No. 29 48 total pages
/QNS.COM
