Parents vow to keep fighting after judge rules to keep vaccination law in place

Parents on Long Island who were hoping for some help from the courts in fighting the state vaccination law were hit with another roadblock to get their kids back in school.

News 12 Staff

Oct 10, 2019, 9:37 PM

Updated 1,671 days ago

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Parents vow to keep fighting after judge rules to keep vaccination law in place
Parents on Long Island who were hoping for some help from the courts in fighting the state vaccination law were hit with another roadblock to get their kids back in school.
Acting Supreme Court Judge Robert Wiggins denied an injunction Wednesday, so students who are not up-to-date with their vaccinations will have to remain home.
Melissa Toro, who is now mom and teacher, says she's been homeschooling her boys since the law went into effect. Toro says her kids have had religious exemptions for vaccinations for most of their lives.

In June, the state Legislature got rid of the exemption and made it mandatory for all kids to be vaccinated in order to go to school.

"I'm going to be honest, it's been tremendously challenging," says Toro. "It feels like sort of a free-for-all. We don't have our groove just yet."
Rita Palma, of the Children's Health Defense, says the fight is not over and that it's in the hands of the attorneys.

News 12 spoke with one of the attorneys who says he was stunned by the decision.

"He acknowledged that children with religious exemptions are not a threat to the public," said the attorney. "He acknowledged that there's no public health crisis. He acknowledged that the Legislature had a callous disregard toward our religious beliefs and that there were no debates and no hearings. He acknowledged all of this and yet decided against us."

Meantime, Toro and her husband have put their home in West Islip up for sale.


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