EXCERPTS: Seventh graders in New York State would be required to be vaccinated for meningitis, a deadly disease spread by saliva droplets, and could be excluded from school if they were not, under a bill passed this week by the State Legislature.


Beginning in September 2016, the bill would require students entering seventh grade to have received themeningitis vaccine, with a booster shot to be given in the 12th grade. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends meningitis vaccination around that time, so many doctors have provided it.


Assemblywoman Aileen M. Gunther, a Democrat from Sullivan County who was the bill’s prime sponsor, said it had been passed after testimony from medical experts as well as from several people who had lost children to meningitis, or who had been afflicted with meningitis and suffered amputations as a result.


“It’s a disaster,” Ms. Gunther said of the disease. “The science tells us that we can do something.”


The bill was opposed by some people who believe that vaccination can cause autism — a belief discredited by scientific studies. But Ms. Gunther, who is a registered nurse, said that in any case, this particular vaccine would be administered long after the period when autism typically develops and is diagnosed. As with other mandated vaccines, parents can apply to their child’s school for a religious exemption from the requirement.


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