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 Lawmakers in California, Oregon, and Washington state, which have
all had recent measles cases, want to remove exemptions based on
personal beliefs, while farther afield, Ohio recently extended a law
that covers those entering childcare.
All U.S. states require certain vaccines for students for diseases
such as mumps, rubella, tetanus, or polio, but school immunization
laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons, including an
inhibited immune system. At least 20 states extend exemptions to
include a range of personal beliefs, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures.
"I'm a physician and a mother. I don't want my kids exposed to
un-immunized kids," said Oregon Senator Elizabeth Hayward, a
Portland Democrat. "These are totally preventable diseases."
Health officials have reported that more than 120 people across the
U.S. have been infected with measles, many of them traced to an
outbreak that began at a Disneyland theme park in Anaheim in
December.
Lawmakers in California, which has 99 confirmed cases, said on
Wednesday they would introduce legislation requiring all school
children to be vaccinated unless a child's life is threatened.
On Thursday, five babies at a suburban Chicago daycare center were
diagnosed with measles. All are under 1 year old and would not have
been subject to a routine vaccination, which begins at 12 months.
In Ohio, a law requiring children enrolled in a licensed childcare
facility to be immunized against measles and other diseases takes
effect in March, a state Department of Health spokeswoman told
Reuters.
Oregon, with some of the country's lowest immunization rates, passed
a 2013 law requiring parents to obtain a doctor's signature or watch
an educational video on vaccination risks and benefits. Colorado
forces schools to collect and publish data about vaccination and
exemption rates.
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"The vast majority of the exemptions currently being used are the
personal ones," said Washington state Representative June Robinson.
But some lawmakers are going the other way, backing measures that
expand parental freedoms even in the face of mainstream medicine and
science supporting vaccinations.
Bills in New York State and Montana would add philosophical and
personal beliefs to the current medical exemption, while proposals
in Mississippi and West Virginia would add exemptions for "medical
reasons or conscientious beliefs" and on religious grounds,
respectively.
Debate over vaccinating has even seeped into the 2016 presidential
race, with at least two potential Republican candidates in the last
week causing a stir after voicing support for giving parents some
choice in whether to immunize their children.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Shelby Sebens in
Portland, Oregon; Additional reporting by Karen Pierog and Mary
Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Alan Crosby)
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