Plaintiffs in Phillips v. City of New York include a set of parents whose child is exempt on religious grounds from the mandatory vaccination required to attend public school. While New York State law allows for the religious exemption, the parents challenged a policy that required their son to stay home from school during a chicken pox outbreak. The 2nd Circuit yesterday rejected that argument (along with other challenges to the vaccination law).
In its decision, the court emphasized that the Supreme Court has previously ruled mandatory vaccination laws are constitutional. The First Amendment, furthermore, does not require the state to provide a religious exemption from the law. Just because New York has chosen to provide the religious exemption, the ruling argues, does not bar the state from enforcing the rule against such students in a more limited way.
From the opinion:
You can read the ruling here.