FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Leah Russin
(650) 434-3073
Leah@vaccinatecalifornia.org
VACCINATE CALIFORNIA APPLAUDS NEW LEGISLATION THAT WILL PROTECT CALIFORNIA CHILDREN BY ENDING ABUSES TO THE VACCINE EXEMPTION PROCESS
Vaccinate California commends Senator Dr. Richard Pan for introducing
legislation to end fraudulent medical exemptions and urges all legislators to
immediately pass Senate Bill 276
March 26, 2019 (Sacramento) Vaccinate California, a parent
advocacy group working to improve public health in California by raising
vaccination rates, today applauded new legislation from state Senator Dr.
Richard Pan to curb abuses to the vaccine medical exemption process. Senate
Bill 276 would require state health officials to approve all requests for
medical exemptions to school-required vaccinations and grant officials the
authority to revoke medical exemptions if they are found to be fraudulent or
inconsistent with CDC guidelines.
“The health of California children is at risk because a few
unscrupulous doctors are preying on unjustified fears about vaccines and
selling medical exemptions to parents. Our children, and many adults, rely on
herd immunity for survival, and every baseless or fraudulent medical exemption
jeopardizes their health and safety,” said Vaccinate California Cofounder and
Executive Director Leah Russin. “We applaud Senator Pan for introducing Senate
Bill 267 and we urge all California legislators to immediately pass this
legislation and protect California children by ending fraudulent medical
exemptions to school vaccinations.”
Following a measles outbreak in Disneyland in 2014,
California legislators passed Senate Bill 277, authored by Senator Pan, which
eliminated all non-medical exemptions to the required vaccines for school
entry. The law significantly increased state vaccination rates. Overall
vaccination rates for kindergarten students rose from 92.8 percent the year
before the bill took effect to 95.1 percent for the 2017-2018 school year,
according to California Department of Public Health data.
However, the rate of medical exemptions has more than tripled, from 0.2 percent
in 2015-2016 to 0.7 percent in 2017-2018.
“Parents across the state who fought to secure SB 277 are
once again worried that the significant pockets of personal belief exemptions
have now transformed into significant pockets of fraudulent medical
exemptions,” added Russin. “Medical exemptions should only be given to those
who truly need them. It is once again time for parents, physicians, health
officials, and concerned Californians to speak up about the abuse of medical
exemptions. It is also time for the California state legislature to act to end
these abuses.”
For vaccinations to be an effective measure for preventing
diseases such as measles, at least 95 percent of the population must be
immunized against a disease; this is known as community immunity or herd
immunity. Herd immunity protects the entire community, including those who
cannot be vaccinated – such as newborns, children with serious allergies, or
children with weakened or failing immune systems, such as children living with
cancer – and the small percentage of children for whom immunizations do not
work.
“Vaccinate California believes that science, not fear, must
govern public policy and that everyone who can get vaccinated should get
vaccinated in order to protect those who cannot,” added Russin. “Vaccinations
are one of the most effective public health tools ever invented, but community
immunity is fragile. Recent measles outbreaks in California and elsewhere are a
grave reminder that vaccine-preventable illnesses once thought to be eradicated
remain a present threat to public health.”
Senate Bill 276 is cosponsored by Vaccinate California, the
California Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics,
California.
For more information on Vaccinate California and the new
legislation, visit: https://vaccinatecalifornia.org/.
About Vaccinate
California
Vaccinate California is a parent advocacy group working to
improve public health in California by raising vaccination rates. Through
advocacy, education, and collaboration, Vaccinate California seeks to build a
state where all parents have the available resources to ensure their children
receive the appropriate vaccinations to protect the health of everyone in
California.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vaccinatecalifornia/
Twitter: @VaccinateCal