The measles outbreak has injected the California Legislature with a new urgency in dealing with vaccine issues. First up is a new bill, as yet without a number, by state Sens. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, and Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, the latter a pediatrician.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!According to Pan’s website, the bill “will repeal the personal belief exemption that currently allows parents to effectively opt their child out of vaccines in our schools.” Under the exemption, “a parent may choose to opt their child out of school vaccine requirements that bi-partisan legislative majorities passed to protect students.”
As the Sacramento Bee reported, the vaccination issue has roiled California in unexpected ways, with “anti-vaxxers” cutting across familiar ideological and political categories. “I’m a registered Democrat, but that could possibly change,” one parent told the paper. “I could never be with a party that mandates, and takes away freedom from people.”
But Republicans have been wary of championing residents seen as directly responsible for the outbreak of major diseases. Some GOP officeholders in Sacramento have begun to reverse their earlier support of California’s relatively broad personal belief exemption, which extends beyond a carveout for religious beliefs. Others have reaffirmed a measured commitment to both vaccination and parental choice.
According to the Los Angeles Times, however, the bill would nevertheless extend some political cover to conservatives whose constituents favor close parental control of medical choices:
“The legislation does not address children who are completely home-schooled. It would still allow children to avoid vaccination for medical reasons including allergic responses and weak immune systems. The mandate only applies to children attending public or private schools.”
Democratic divisions
Perhaps surprisingly, Republicans may have already felt the worst of the political awkwardness — while Democrats face more internal disagreement. As the Wall Street Journal reported, “Dr. Pan wrote a 2012 law that went into effect last year that required a consultation with a health care practitioner to obtain the personal belief exemption. Gov. Jerry Brown added an exemption based on religious beliefs upon signing that law.”
Now, Brown’s office has indicated the governor is open to erasing the personal belief exemption.
Both California’s U.S. Senators, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, also have urged their fellow party members to consider eliminating the religious-belief exemption. In a letter to California Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley and other officials, the senators set out an uncompromising position:
“California’s current law allows two options for parents to opt out of vaccine requirements for school and daycare: they must either make this decision with the aid of a health professional, or they can simply check a box claiming that they have religious objections to medical care. We think both options are flawed, and oppose even the notion of a medical professional assisting to waive a vaccine requirement unless there is a medical reason, such as an immune deficiency.”
What’s more, Boxer and Feinstein went after parents who sought modified or delayed vaccination schedules even for preschool children — a move that could unsettle the swift but fragile bipartisan consensus forming around the Pan-Allen bill.
As BuzzFeed reported, the response among Democrats has not been as crisp and confident as Boxer and Feinstein might have hoped:
“Several liberal lawmakers unequivocally said parents should vaccinate their kids. But when pressed further on the state laws that allow parents to skip vaccinating their children if they have a medical, religious, or ‘personal belief’ reason not to do so, their answers became less clear.”
Nationally prominent California Democrats, from Rep. Maxine Waters to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, couched their language in a way that steered clear of Boxer and Feinstein’s vaccination absolutism.
The office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris — who hopes to replace Boxer in the Senate — declined to answer any questions about Harris’s own stance.
There should be an individual cost for those parents/families that disregard the health and welfare of society at-large over the issue of vaccinations.
I fully support this outcome: Vaccinate and school, or Home-School.
It would be better yet if they (parents and kids) had to wear a red-tunic with a stark white “No V” on it to warn the rest of us when out-and-about.
Nazi!!
Echos of the the 1930s, Nazi Germany and the forced wearing of the Jude… badge of shame.
This law would disregard the massive amounts of data that show adverse reactions are very prevalent with vaccines. It also does more to remove the burden of pharmaceutical companies to produce more diligent safety studies. Not only are the pharma based safety studies on vaccines highly inadequate, we also have evidence and pending litigation in regards to their fraudulent safety and efficacy studies. Removing exemption allows for future vaccines to be introduced who’s safety, efficacy and necessity may be in question but no one will have the right to refuse. Mandates for adults are in the works as well. You have no recourse, should you suffer a vaccine induced side effect or death, that is not predetermined to be an acceptable injury, should you receive a vaccine from a bad batch or one which “safety studies” missed a link. Vaccines are frequently fast tracked, bypassing safety and effectiveness studies. There are also no long term studies carried out on any vaccine that can tell us the potential of long term damage (i.e. autoimmnity, cancers etc.) related to adjuvants, foreign viral material etc. We already have independent peer reviewed studies demonstrating correlation of neurotoxicity, autoimmunity, neurodevelopment disorders, genetic predisposition, infant mortality, vaccine ineffectiveness, cancers and more linked to vaccines. Yet our safety information comes from the manufacturers with a vested interest who ignore these studies, do nothing to look into the correlations further and falsify their own. The scientific evidence against vaccine safety is staggering and simply goes unreported in the bought mainstream media. You can be a sheep and believe those that herd you, or put some critical thinking and time into researching the independent studies and statistics yourself. You speak from a place of severe ignorance and arrogance that has little leg to stand on, except for in the community of those bought and brainwashed. And your Nazi comment of marking those who based their autonomous decision on critical thought, independent research, a larger understanding of human physiology and in any cases previous vaccine injury, rather than this oversimplified idea that activating an abnormal immune response via and abnormal route with foreign and toxic material can somehow innocuously guarantee us immunity and better health, is way beyond psychosis. Vaccination is not immunization. Antibody production is an indicator of exposure not of immunity. Additionally vaccines trigger the incorrect immune mediated response that would be needed to produce true immunity. High titers in in many diseases is an indicator if exposure and infection. Yet high titers from vaccines is seen as a sign of immunity. This is a contradiction. Just because an antigen has been “marked” does not meant the body has acquired the means to properly combat the illness. We also have studies that show that a fully immune individual may have zero antibodies in relation to the disease. There is also evidence in studied cases where fully immunized people who have adequate titer counts contract the disease and those that show no antibodies do not. This is an example of the faulty theoretical “science” that vaccines are based on.
And might I add that this article wrongly stated that those who choose not to vaccinate can homeschool. Homeschooling in California requires one to file as a private school. Homeschools would not be exempt.
This is medical tyranny and will eventually effect you.
Thank-you for your brilliant response for reasons not to vaccinate. Each body is unique. Most people can take penicillin, but for those who can’t, it’s deadly. The number of autistic children is sky-rocketing. The studies on the safety of vaccines, via pharmaceutical companies, are flawed. My family has the mutation for the MTHFR gene and the Apoe 4/4. Until science does fair studies that are not paid for by Big Pharma, my grandbabies, my daughters, and I will not be vaccinated Thanks, Lily for a lovely post!
you haven’t studied and are badly misinformed. Go see the movie Vaxxed .Be willing to learn and quit repeating what you don’t know but think you have heard. All Americans deserve freedom of choice and an Education.
For those that receive an injection of a live virus such as the measles, mumps, or rubella, there should be a mandatory isolation of a minimum of 10 days since they actively shed the virus for a period of 10 to 30 days being the most contagious after vaccination of the first 10 days.
I think we should expect to see an outbreak of measles. It will be caused by shedding from a large number of school children who have to meet the state law requirement of California to be vaccinated. Very few of us have true immunity. Hold on tight, because all of us non-vaxxers will be blamed.
This article is inaccurate. Homeschoolers, if not attending a charter school, must file a public school affadavit, which deems them a private school. As such, if this becomes law, it applies to homeschoolers as well.
this article is inaccurate. according to homeschooling laws you STILL have to submit either your vaccination record or exemption, So if this law passes its not vaccinate or homeschool, its vaccinate or else, which is coercion and blatantly unconstitutional.
In the state of California homeschoolers register as a private school. If a bill passes which forces children who attend a public or private school this would include the vast majority of homeschoolers as well.
If you think homeschooling is your way around this mandate, you’re mistaken. We need to fight to maintain our rights to choose which medical procedures are appropriate for our families based on current health conditions, previous history to reactions & sensitivities, religion, and personal beliefs. This is America right? Home of the free? At least it used to be. Our freedoms are slowly being taken from us one bill at a time. Wake up people.
This is false. Homeschooling in California is considered private school by the State. Private schools are not exempted, so home schoolers will also not be exempted.
Homeschools fall under private schools in California!
I strongly urge you to print a correction of this article as it is grossly misleading. If you are going to report a news story, at least ensure it is accurate. You have an obligation to do so.
Homeschooling would not be an option. As currently written, this bill would affect ALL types of schooling.
Homeschooling is considered a private school in CA. This most definitely includes Homeschoolers.
You haven’t reported the facts accurately. Home schoolers will be held to this since they are considered private schools in the state of Ca. Please correct as to not spread inaccurate information.
Please update your article. California home schools ARE private schools. This bill would indeed affect homeschoolers.
This article is incorrect. All school aged children will have to be vaccinated, including homeschooled. Homeschools are considered private schools in California, and this bill covers private schools. There will be no legal way to educate the children without vaccination. Please correct your article.
Your article is incorrect. In CA Home Schools fall under Private Schools, so, YES, Home School children will also be Forced/mandated to have all vaccines. No Delaying an No Decline! The pharmaceutical companies, I mean the government can add to that list of vaccines as much as they want and no one will be able to do anything.
Informed Consent! Medical Freedom!
Think you can make your own medical decisions? Think again.
Bought.
This is INCORRECT- READ the actual bill. Don’t count on the LA Times as your source. In CA home schools are considered & registered as private schools. SB-277 will affect public, private and home school, FORCING parents to have their children receive ALL vaccines on the CDC schedule and they may add other vaccines as they “deem” necessary. Link to CA-SB277 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB277
The real story: Measles deaths in US in past 10 years- 0 (source CDC) Deaths from MMR Vaccine 108 (source VAERS database)
The National Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 shields DRUG MAKERS & DOCTORS from LIABILITY- they HAVE NO LIABILITY!
Since 1986 the CDC vaccine schedule has tripled.
There is NO INCENTIVE for Vaccine maker or Healthcare providers to make sure the vaccines are fully safe.
The Federal government has set a separate COURT for VACCINE INJURES called Vaccine Injury Court.
The Vaccine Injury Court, funded by our tax dollars has already paid out nearly 3 BILLION DOLLARS to vaccine injured families (2 OUT OF 3 applicants for compensation are denied)
A Chief CDC Researcher, William Thompson has come forward to confess that in their 2004 study, they manipulated data to hide an association between the MMIR VACCINE and autism in African American males. link: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lawrence-solomon/merck-whistleblowers_b_5881914.html
The immunocompromised are advised by their Doctors to AVOID individuals who have had live vaccines administered in the past 30days- because they SHED LIVE VIRUS.
We support PARENTAL CHOICE! #OpposeSB277 #NoVaxMandates
“I’m a registered Democrat, but that could possibly change,” one parent told the paper. “I could never be with a party that mandates, and takes away freedom from people.” LOL. Democrats take away freedom as often as they can. Neither party cares about individual freedom or liberty.
To take away the American freedom of personal choice is so wrong.
Have you seen the movie Vaxxed? I would like to know how you stand on SB277 now before I and my friends vote? I wrote you before and didn’t receive back an answer. Call in Dr. Thomas to hear about the cover up?
So many injured and dead children!!!!!!
Beware of politicians in sheeps clothing . They pretend to stand with you and then go vote for mandatory vaccine. This issue is deeper than you think.
2018 midterm election is so important. you have to see where each candidate stand on vaccines. There has to be a congressional hearing on the CDC whistleblower Dr. Thompson. Do your research !