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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Parents Reject Vaccination, Sue Son’s School

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CN) - Parents have sued a Catholic high school for refusing a "religious exemption" that would allow their son to enroll without being vaccinated. Andrea and Paul Polydor claim that human bodies should "not be defiled by vaccines," which are "unholy." They sued Kellenberg Memorial High School, of Uniondale.

In their complaint in Nassau County Court, the Polydors say they sent the school a letter stating, "We are all created in God's image. Therefore, we must not defile our blood and our bodies with diseases and other impure substances. As the Divine Architect, God designed our bodies to have immune systems that must not be defiled by vaccines. Immunizations are a violation of God's supreme authority, and therefore, unholy. Since immunizations are unholy they violate my religious beliefs."

The letter continued: "I believe that God has created all of us in His image. In being created in God's image, we are given a perfect immune system. I am bestowed with God's gift - the immune system. I believe it is sacrilegious and violation of our sacred religious beliefs to violate what God has given us. Using vaccines shows a lack of faith in God, and His perfectly designed immune system."

The parents say they documented their statement with "multiple tenets from their religious scriptures."

But the Polydors say the dean of students rejected their request for a religious exemption, stating, "State law is very strong and very clear in its requirement that the appropriate Certificate of Immunization and record of Physical Examination must be on file at Kellenberg Memorial High School before a student can begin attending class."

Public health law requires children to be inoculated for poliomyelitis, mumps, measles, diphtheria, rubella, varicella, Haemophilus influenza type B, pertussis, tetanus, pneumococcal disease, and hepatitis B.

But it makes an exception for "children whose parent, parents, or guardian hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required," according to the complaint.

On behalf of their son, JV, the Polydors seek an injunction ordering the school to accept their unvaccinated son. They are represented by Patricia Finn of Piermont, N.Y.

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