New York is seeing a spike in parents seeking exemptions from the state's school vaccine mandates, with one of those challenges potentially headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. A mother looking to keep her unvaccinated son enrolled at an elementary school in Eastchester is challenging the state’s vaccination laws, which allow only students with an approved medical exemption to attend school without the required vaccines, according to court documents filed last month. The Catholic mother — identified only as “Jane Doe,” mother of a 5-year-old boy identified as “C.F.” — claims vaccination goes against her family’s religious beliefs and is asking the Supreme Court to allow her child to temporarily attend school while the case plays out in court. The Supreme Court declined to intervene in a Sept. 8 order, without offering any explanation. Patricia Finn, the attorney representing the family, says the case will proceed at the federal trial court level, but the child will be barred from school while the court deliberates on the case. If they lose, they plan to petition to bring it before the Supreme Court. “The underlying constitutional challenge is not over,” Finn said in a statement. “The case will continue in the district court, with appellate review available in the Second Circuit and, if necessary, through a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.” New York has fielded past legal challenges from families who say the state’s 2019 elimination of a religious exemption to school vaccine mandates is a violation of their rights, but those efforts have been unsuccessful. Parents seeking exemptions from vaccine laws see renewed hope since President Donald Trump chose longtime vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy rallied alongside families and advocates in Albany to prevent the elimination of the state’s religious exemption in 2019. Trump also signed an executive order last month directing federal agencies to reduce the number of recommended vaccines children receive and spread the shots out over a longer time period. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the state has been grappling with an uptick in appeals for exemptions to vaccine mandates. The education department said it received more appeals requesting medical exemptions to required vaccinations during the 2025-26 school year than ever before. Both the department and the state Health Department declined to provide data backing the claim. However, the department provided a dataset on the state’s school immunization survey. For the 2024-25 school year, 941 of 2,755 public schools outside New York City reported at least one student with a medical exemption, according to the data. Among private schools, 184 of 861 reported at least one student with a medical exemption. Click here to read more from POLITICO Pro’s Katelyn Cordero and Madina Touré. ON THE AGENDA: — Wednesday at 1 p.m., the Public Health and Health Planning Council’s Ad Hoc Committee to Support the New York Prevention Agenda meets. — Thursday at 10:15 a.m., the Public Health and Health Planning Council’s codes committee will meet, followed by a convening of the full council. GOT TIPS? Send story ideas and feedback to Maya Kaufman at mkaufman@politico.com and Katelyn Cordero at kcordero@politico.com. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro.
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