BILL TO MANDATE CHILDHOOD VACCINES FOR KIDS PASSES ASSEMBLY

By Miriam Raftery

Update July 1, 2015: The Governor has signed this bill, stating "the science is clear" on the benefits of vaccinations.

June 28, 2015 (Sacramento) – A bill that would eliminate the personal belief exemption for childhood vaccines in California has passed the Assembly and now goes to the Senate for concurrence in amendments.  The Assembly voted 46-30 to pass the measure, Senate Bill 277, the Sacramento Bee reports.

If the amendments are approved by the Senate and the bill is signed by Governor Jerry Brown, then children who have not been vaccinated for diseases such as measles, mumps and whooping cough would not be allowed to attend public schools in California, unless a child has a medical condition such as an allergy or immune system disorder that could raise the risk of complications.

San Diego State Senators Marty Block and Lorena Gonzalez, both Democrats, are cosponsors of the bill.  Republican Senator Joel Anderson voted against it in an earlier Senate vote and Democrat Ben Hueso did not cast a vote. Among local Assemblymembers, Democrats Toni Atkins, Mary Salas and Shirley Weber voted in favor, while Republicans Brian Jones and Rocky Chavez voted no.

Amendments approved would allow unvaccinated children to be homeschooled, participate in independent study projects overseen by school districts, or attend private schools, where parents must be informed of vaccination rates, California Healthline reports.

Unvaccinated children would not be allowed to enter preschool, kindergarten or seventh grade without immunizations, but could keep attending their existing schools between those grades

If the bill is signed into law, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia to become the third state to require vaccines, with only medical exemptions allowed, not religious or personal beliefs.

 Jay Lee, president of the California Academy of Family Physicians, praised the bill’s passage. He said, "To make a decision not to vaccinate [a child] is actually to make a decision to potentially harm the community," adding, "The health of the public is going to be protected by this measure,” California Healthline reports.

Opponents however have voiced concerns over parental rights and substantial donations made by pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines to legislative campaigns.

According to the New York Times, opponents have vowed to take legal action against the bill and launched recall campaigns against lawmakers who supported the measure (New York Times, 6/25).