California law requires students to be vaccinated, denies opting out for ‘beliefs’
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a law that requires public and private school students to receive vaccinations to attend school. The law was designed as a measure to prevent outbreaks of diseases in schools, but will not allow for exemptions based on personal beliefs.
“The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases. While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunisation powerfully benefits and protects the community,” Brown stated.
The only exemption granted in the law is when a child’s physician concludes that there are “circumstances, including but not limited to, family medical history, for which the physician does not recommend immunization.”
“Thus, SB 277, while requiring that school children be vaccinated, explicitly provides an exception when a physician believe that circumstances—in the judgment and sound discretion of the physician—so warrant,” the California governor said.
Image/CDC
Parents are fighting back, arguing that they will choose to homeschool their children rather than give their children the vaccinations.
The bill was authored by Sen. Richard Pan and Sen. Ben Allen. It was approved by the California Senate with a 25-11 vote last May 14 and by the California Assembly last June 25 with a 46-31 vote.
The amended version was approved by the Senate last June 29 with a 24-14 vote.
According to the California Department of Public Health’s 2014-2015 Kindergarten Immunisation Assessment, 90.4 percent of the 535,332 students in kindergartens in California received the all-required immunisations, an increase of 0.2 percent from last year.
The percentage of students with permanent medical exemptions stayed at 0.19 percent while those with personal belief exemptions totaled 2.54 percent.
The law will take effect on Jan. 1, but children will not be required to receive vaccinations until the 2016-2017 school year.
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