Cooperstown Students May Be Removed From School Over Vaccine Issue

According to AllOtsego, the mother of two 7-year-olds said she received an email Tuesday morning from Cooperstown Superintendent of Schools Bill Crankshaw directing her to remove her children from school for failing to be fully vaccinated.

Amanda Perrault, a Hartwick College graduate who works at Bassett Healthcare and lives in the Town of Hartwick, said that she has a religious objection to using vaccines developed from aborted fetal tissue. The Immunization Action Coalition reports that two cell lines from two legally aborted fetuses in the 1960s are the basis of vaccines for varicella, rubella, hepatitis A and other ailments.

However, since the New York State Legislature removed the religious exemption in June, Perrault says the two children have been undergoing the vaccination regimen, and are due for their final injections Oct. 16. “As far as I understand it,” she said, “it’s affected a lot of families statewide.”

Meanwhile, tests (titers) as recently as yesterday have shown Perrault’s two children are free of any of the feared diseases, and she believes that she is in compliance with all associated provisions of the state Public Health Law.

The email she received from Crankshaw this morning includes “as it was explained to me,” which caused the mother to believe that the superintendent may not understand that her children are compliant and in the process of becoming fully compliant.

Crankshaw was in a meeting and unable to be reached for comment.  Perrault was fearful after receiving the Superintendent's letter that her children would be quarantined at the school, or that police would become involved. She says she recognizes the need for vaccines, and while in college, participated on a mission to Bolivia to vaccinate children against measles. But raised a Catholic and now a Christian, she withheld vaccinations because of her religious beliefs.

For more on this story provided in partnership with AllOTSEGO, visit AllOtsego.com.