Lawmakers, March of Dimes, Medical Professionals and Public Health Advocates Demand Passage of HB 5044

Press Conference

WHEN:

Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | 9:30am

WHERE:

Legislative Office Building | Room 1D

WHO:

Rep. Steinberg | Co-Chair, Public Health Committee

Sen. Abrams | Co-Chair, Public Health Committee

Sen. Anwar | Vice Chair, Public Health Committee

Erin E. Jones | March of Dimes, Regional Director, Government Affairs

Juanita Castillo | CT Chapter, National Assoc. of Hispanic Nurses & Patient

Dr. Linda Niccolai | Professor, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Director, Connecticut Emerging Infections Program | Yale School of Public Health

Amy Pisani | Executive Director, Vaccinate Your Family

Dr. Jody Terranova| American Academy of Pediatrics-CT Chapter

Dr. Carl Baum | Pediatric Emergency Physician, Yale New Haven Hospital

WHY:

According to the state Department of Public Health, there are now 134 Connecticut schools where the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rate for kindergarten students falls below the federally recommended guideline of 95%. The data shows a 31.1% increase in the number of schools that fell below the 95% kindergarten MMR vaccination rate guideline, and 41 schools have MMR rates below 90%. The overall statewide number of religious exemptions to vaccination increased by 25% between the two school years. This represents the largest single year increase in religious exemptions for vaccination since the DPH started tracking the statewide data a decade ago.