According to the recent ruling by a federal district court, children in New York City who are not vaccinated may be sent home from school if another student has a vaccine-preventable disease. While the laws in New York State and many others say that parents can choose to not get their children vaccinated for religious reasons, schools in New York City require all students to get necessary vaccinations in order to attend classes.

School administrators say they have taken this step to prevent unvaccinated children from contracting diseases and spreading them. But three families – two that have religious exemptions and one that is hoping to receive an exemption, sued over the issue saying their right to free exercise of religion was being violated when their children were forced to stay away from school because of the city’s immunization policies.

Judge William Kuntz II from Brooklyn’s Federal District Court ruled against the three families after citing a 109-year-old Supreme Court ruling that provides states a lot of power in public health matters. He said that those who object on religious grounds are not constitutionally exempt from vaccinations.

This development comes in the midst of many parents refusing vaccines recently, a trend that has led to the outbreak of several diseases in New York City, something that could have been prevented easily. While some parents have claimed that vaccinations lead to developmental problems in children like autism, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other health organizations have trashed those claims.

The federal government has a website Vaccines.com that provides parents with all the information they need about vaccines. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention too, provides information on individual vaccine-preventable diseases.