CALIFORNIA lawmakers on Wednesday, April 8, approved a bill that would ban parents from opting out of vaccinations for their school-enrolled children due to personal or religious beliefs.
In a 6-2 vote, Senate Bill 277 passed the Senate health committee.
“I’ve personally witnessed the suffering caused by vaccine-preventable diseases, and all children deserve to be safe at school,” said Democrat Richard Pan, co-author of the bill and a pediatrician, according to Reuters.
“The personal belief exemption is now putting other school children and people in our community in danger.”
Pan proposed the bill in response to a measles outbreak that began in the state in December. To date, more than 150 individuals across the United States have been affected, 126 of whom are in California.
The bill would require that children be vaccinated for certain diseases, including measles and whooping cough, to be admitted into California schools. It would further eliminate the personal belief exemption, though it would allow for medical exemptions to vaccinations.
If the bill passes the Legislature and is signed by the governor, California would become the third state with such stringent vaccine rules. Mississippi and West Virginia maintain the strictest vaccination laws in the United States.
“If it were just a decision about their child, I think you would find no quarrel with having a right to make that decision,” said Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel), according to The Sacramento Bee, but “you’re making a choice not just for your child, not just for your family, but a choice that affects another person’s child.”
On Wednesday, opponents of the bill, including Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber), who voted against it, said it oversteps parents’ rights.
“I have very profound feelings about parental rights and responsibilities and great dismay in American society over the decades how much that parental right, that parental responsibility has diminished,” Nielsen said.
More than an hour and a half of testimony took place Wednesday at the emotionally charged hearing, where one woman was removed following an outburst. Another opponent threatened to place a curse on lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill, Associated Press reported.
Many people attended the hearing, including parents and their children.
One woman, Karen Kain, said her daughter died of injuries from a mercury-tainted vaccine, according to the Associated Press.
“I stand here today before you to share my story so you can all see and hear what happens when vaccines go wrong,” Kain said. “Who gets to make the choice now of whose babies are more important? Because there is risk, there must be choice.”
Other opponents of the bill include Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., nephew of former President John F. Kennedy.
The Sacramento Bee reported that when, during a Tuesday screening of a film regarding the link between autism and vaccination, Kennedy asked how many parents had a child who had been injured by vaccines, many raised their hands.
“They get the shot, that night they have a fever of 103, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone,” Kennedy said. “This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”
Amid concerns, medical professionals say the risks to vaccines are small compared to the consequences of diseases such as the measles. Vaccine manufacturers have removed the mercury-containing preservative – thimerosal – years ago.
“Unfortunately, there’s much misinformation about vaccine safety and effectiveness,” Blumberg said. “Let me be clear: There is no scientific controversy about vaccine safety and vaccine effectiveness. … This is not open to dispute among mainstream doctors and scientists.”
Another reason some skip vaccines is due to distrust in government studies. Such individuals argue that approvals of new vaccines are motivated by profit rather than necessity.
California is one of 20 states that allows exemptions for personal belief and among 48 that allow for religious exemptions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
(With reports from Associated Press, Reuters, San Jose Mercury News and The Sacramento Bee)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend April 11-14, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)
