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 The measure passed the state Senate health committee by a vote of
6-2, the bill's co-author, Democrat Richard Pan, said in a
statement.
"I've personally witnessed the suffering caused by
vaccine-preventable diseases, and all children deserve to be safe at
school," said Pan, who is also a pediatrician.
"The personal belief exemption is now putting other school children
and people in our community in danger."
Pan proposed the bill, which would leave in place medical exemptions
to vaccinations, in the wake of a major measles outbreak in the
state that began at Disneyland in December.
All told, more than 150 people across the United Sates have been
diagnosed with measles in recent months, 126 of them in California.
The outbreak renewed debate over the so-called anti-vaccination
movement, in which fears about potential side effects of
vaccinations, fueled by now-debunked research suggesting a link to
autism, prompted a small minority of parents to refuse them for
their children.
The proposal, which must clear several other legislative hurdles
before a possible Senate floor vote, prompted roughly four hours of
heated discussion that saw several people removed for shouting down
lawmakers, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.
Detractors of the bill, including Republican senator Jim Nielsen who
voted against it on Wednesday, said it tramples on a parent's
rights, the Bee reported.
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"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, according to the newspaper.
Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 after
years of intensive childhood vaccine efforts. But in 2014 the
country had its highest number of cases in two decades.
There is no specific treatment for measles and most people recover
within several weeks. But in poor and malnourished children and
people with reduced immunity, measles can cause serious
complications including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea,
ear infection and pneumonia.
(Editing by Robert Birsel)
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