The Shapiro administration recently published a database of vaccinations across Pennsylvania. The breakout statistics show percentages of students vaccinated by school, including private religious schools. Most troubling, the percentage of students claiming religious exemptions is part of this database – along with other statutory exemptions for philosophical and medical reasons.
The effect of this unprecedented exposure of data on schools is to cast an unwanted and unavoidably negative spotlight on unvaccinated students in Pennsylvania schools. The database compares rates of vaccination across all schools, including religious schools which often have higher numbers of religious exemptions.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, this new database “makes it easier for parents and community members to view annual vaccination rates at individual schools — not just at the state or county-level like before — boosting transparency and giving families a clearer picture of how well protected their children’s classrooms are.”
This is not a neutral exercise in data evaluation. The purpose is to give schools a report card on their vaccine levels, and out those with high rates of vaccinations. The “clear picture” this data tries to give is that schools with low percentages of exemptions are safe, while those with higher rates are vectors of dangerous diseases.
“The creation of this statewide school-level database raises serious questions about privacy, how school-specific data may be used, and the precedent it could set for expanding government reporting of individual school data in the future,” said Randall Wenger, Chief Counsel for Independence Law Center. “Parents who exercise their legal right to a religious exemption should never have to wonder whether government-published data will expose their schools or communities to pressure, discrimination, or intimidation because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The Shapiro administration has not been successful at eliminating exemptions from vaccine mandates, so it has done the next best thing: shame those who take it by labeling them as a problem. The new database transforms a statutory and constitutional right into a warning label. It recasts a protection for conscience as a societal hazard, warning families in Pennsylvania to stay away from schools and school districts.
