Reuters, May 15, 2015
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) California parents who do not vaccinate their children would have to home-school them under a bill passed Thursday by the state Senate, the latest move in a battle between public health officials and “anti-vaxxers” who fear vaccines are dangerous.
The bill, which eliminates the so-called personal beliefs exemption allowing parents to forego vaccinations if opposed to them for any reason, was introduced after a measles outbreak at Disneyland last year that sickened more than 100 people.
“The personal beliefs exemption is endangering the public,” said Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and co-author of the bill. The measure still allows children to attend school without vaccinations for medical reasons.
In recent years, vaccination rates at many California schools have plummeted as parents, some of whom fear a link between vaccines and autism, have declined to inoculate their children against such diseases as polio and measles.
Parents who oppose mandatory vaccinations packed committee hearings to testify against the bill, which stalled at one point but was then revived.
Thursday’s vote came after an hour of heated discussion among senators, who voted 25-10, mostly along party lines, to support it.
Under the bill, which still must be approved by the Assembly, unvaccinated children who do not have a medical exemption would have to study at home or in organized, private home-schooling groups.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) California parents who do not vaccinate their children would have to home-school them under a bill passed Thursday by the state Senate, the latest move in a battle between public health officials and “anti-vaxxers” who fear vaccines are dangerous.
The bill, which eliminates the so-called personal beliefs exemption allowing parents to forego vaccinations if opposed to them for any reason, was introduced after a measles outbreak at Disneyland last year that sickened more than 100 people.
“The personal beliefs exemption is endangering the public,” said Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and co-author of the bill. The measure still allows children to attend school without vaccinations for medical reasons.
In recent years, vaccination rates at many California schools have plummeted as parents, some of whom fear a link between vaccines and autism, have declined to inoculate their children against such diseases as polio and measles.
Parents who oppose mandatory vaccinations packed committee hearings to testify against the bill, which stalled at one point but was then revived.
Thursday’s vote came after an hour of heated discussion among senators, who voted 25-10, mostly along party lines, to support it.
Under the bill, which still must be approved by the Assembly, unvaccinated children who do not have a medical exemption would have to study at home or in organized, private home-schooling groups.
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