US schoolgirls expelled when mother refuses to vaccinate

Two teenage girls were expelled from a New York school when their mother refused to vaccinate them despite school district policies.

Marina Williams chose not to have her two daughters, aged 13 and 15, vaccinated as children due to religious beliefs that prohibit ‘foreign substances’ from entering the bodies of believers.

The girls were subsequently expelled by the school district for refusing to vaccinate, and now Williams has filed a petition in State Supreme Court to challenge the decision, claiming it infringes on her religious freedoms.

"The Orchard Park school system is asking me to go against everything that I believe in and my faith," Williams told WIVB.

Her daughters being unvaccinated hadn’t caused problems in their old West Seneca School district, however when they moved to Orchard Park in Buffalo, New York late last year tensions arose.

When it was discovered the girls had not been vaccinated they were taken out of school on the condition that they could return when fully immunised, something Williams insists goes against her belief systems.

"I've never had a vaccine before. My mother, my sister, my aunt, haven't either. To me, that was just a given...I've never had to defend it before,” she said.

The Williams family are part of the Temple of the Inner Flames Church, an evangelical congregation that has practically no information available online.

Williams claims that her children were given religious exemptions to vaccination in the West Seneca School district, however when she requested the same exemptions from the girls’ new school she was refused.

She later provided a letter to the school from Reverend of the church Carol Ann Liaros, a self-proclaimed “world renown psychic”, to back up her stance, however the school district remained unswayed.

The girls’ schooling stopped in late November and they were out of class for two months before being formally expelled for refusing to vaccinate, the Orchard Park school district stating that protecting the health of its students outweighs an individual's right to religious immunity.

“A school district has no duty more important than protecting the health, safety, and welfare of its students and staff,” said lawyers for the school district in a statement.

“Ensuring that the immunisation requirements under state law have been met is critical to carrying out this duty.”

Now Williams is suing the school, her attorney Frank Housh claiming the case is about religious freedoms, not vaccination, and will be judged on the ground of discrimination.

“This isn't a vaccination lawsuit and my client is not an anti-vaxxer,” he told WIVB.

The girls will remain expelled pending a decision, at which time they may be legally required to be vaccinated if they wish to return to school in the Orchard Parks district.