Rally protests flu-shot mandate for N.J. children

TRENTON - Hundreds of parents and other activists rallied outside the Statehouse yesterday, decrying New Jersey's first-in-the-nation requirement that children get a flu shot in order to attend a preschool or day-care center.

The approaching flu season is the first since the state's Public Health Council approved the policy in December. Children from 6 months to 5 years old have until Dec. 31 to receive the flu shot and a pneumococcal vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the flu vaccine for this at-risk age group.

The state allows medical and religious exemptions to mandatory vaccinations, but Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk (R., Bergen) told the rally that local authorities often turn down requests for medical exemptions. She is sponsoring a bill that would allow conscientious objections - a move the state health department said would weaken the protective power of vaccination for everyone.

- AP