Press Releases

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Statement on the Obstruction of the Dodgers Stadium Vaccination Site in Los Angeles on January 30

We are deeply saddened and outraged that antivaccine and antiscience thugs have managed to obstruct and shut down a vaccination site in Los Angeles. Vaccination is the only way out of this pandemic for us, since so many, including those taking part in this action, have refused to mask and properly social distance. 

Furthermore, these thugs have just proven that the “informed consent” and “medical choice” rhetoric of their movement is simply hot (infectious) air. After all, the many attendees who were patiently waiting their turn to protect themselves and others were there exercising their free choice and their informed consent — and this group denied them that.

We call on our elected officials to forcefully condemn today’s shameful event, and on law enforcement to increase its efforts to monitor and prepare for this kind of disruption and obstruction of public health events and activities. 

We cannot allow science deniers and conspiracy theorists to win. Enough is enough. #ThisIsOurShot

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Voters Embrace Science and Reject State Senator Moorlach’s Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PALO ALTO, CA — The defeat of State Senator John Moorlach in his re-election sends a strong message to politicians who pander to the anti-vaccine extremists and put politics over the health of their constituents. Voters responded to the anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric of John Moorlach by soundly rejecting him in his bid for re-election.

“California is a leader in using science to guide public policy,” said Leah Russin, co-founder of Vaccinate California. “By rejecting those who embrace conspiracies while ignoring facts, voters have ensured we will continue to protect our communities by relying on science.”

“The voters are telling people holding public office — Californians want safe and healthy communities,” said Dr. Richard Pan, state senator and author of two recent California vaccination laws. “The people want to hear the truth and expect elected officials to make decisions based on facts and science to protect their families.”

In the State Senate, Sen. Moorlach not only opposed public health legislation, he pandered to anti-vaccine extremists, including Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced researcher who fraudulently claimed vaccines caused autism.

Sen. Moorlach voted against the provaccine bills authored by Dr. Richard Pan SB 277 in 2015 and SB 276 in 2019 during major measles outbreaks. SB 277 abolished non-medical exemptions for immunizations required for school entry, while SB 276 provided public health oversight over medical exemptions to ensure fake medical exemptions could not undermine vaccination rates at schools.

On the floor of the California State Senate, Sen. Moorlach made speeches repeating baseless anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, headlined anti-vaccine rallies and became a high-profile cheerleader for the movement.  While vaccines must undergo rigorous testing for safety both before and after FDA approval, in Sen. Moorlach’s floor speech against SB 276, he falsely claimed vaccines haven’t been tested for safety in 32 years — a verifiably false statement made by anti-vaxxers.

While serving in the State Senate, Sen. Moorlach has taken many extreme positions against science, including his denial of climate change, voting against legislation to protect children and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases while providing support for anti-vaccine conspiracies and voting against funding for public health during a pandemic.

After serving as a county supervisor, Sen. Moorlach was first elected to the 37th Senate District in a 2015 special election held to fill a vacancy when Mimi Walters was elected to congress. He then won reelection in 2016, defeating his Democratic challenger by 14 percentage points. Incumbent GOP State Senator John Moorlach ran for reelection this year in the state’s 37th Senate District, covering traditionally conservative, central Orange County. Sen. Moorlach’s anti-vaccine, anti-science stance became a central issue in the campaign as David Min and pro-science advocates highlighted Sen. Moorlach’s positions.  On November 7, UC Irvine law professor Dave Min declared victory in his campaign to represent the 37th Senate District, defeating Sen. Moorlach.

“Voters had their say on November 3rd, and the people declared they want a representative who will protect their families from preventable diseases,” added Pan.

“Vaccinate California is eager to work with Senator-elect Min on science-minded policies that will benefit our communities,” said Russin.

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Don’t Undercut Settled Law — Or Our Children’s Health

First Partner Jennifer Newsom expresses sympathy with those who opposed SB276/714, and explains that the Department is consulting functional and integrative “doctors.” Functional and Integrative “Medicine” are non-evidence based alternatives to traditional science. She also thinks people should be able to delay vaccines and choose among them — which by the way, they can, they just can’t delay vaccines and send their kids to school. The dialogue about SB276/714 is done — the parents whose children need protection from vaccine-preventable disease are counting on full implementation without delay.

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Agreement Reached on SB276

Vaccinate California and thousands of parents across the state applaud Governor Newsom and Dr. Pan for reaching an agreement to advance Senate Bill 276 and for helping to protect our children from vaccine-preventable diseases. Today’s agreement is a victory for science over fear and for sound public health policy over conspiracy and misinformation. We urge Governor Newsom to sign SB 276 immediately.

No parent should have to make the choice to pull their child from school to protect them from vaccine-preventable illness. That is why parents from Vaccinate California have made their voices heard in support of SB276 – to help protect our communities and ensure that no schools in California have unsafe numbers of unvaccinated students. Unvaccinated children are at higher risk for contagious disease — in schools, in physician waiting rooms, on playgrounds, on public transportation and elsewhere — and they pose a significant risk to infants and immunocompromised children, including cancer patients and children who have had organ transplants. These children — the most vulnerable among us — need the rest of us to be vaccinated.

The parents of Vaccinate California are grateful to Dr. Pan and Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez for the leadership and the courage they have shown in bringing SB 276 to this point as well as Senate President Pro Tem Atkins for backing her legislative colleagues. Because of their efforts to ensure that medical exemptions can be reviewed and invalidated where appropriate, more of our children will be protected from vaccine-preventable illnesses in schools.

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Governor Newsom Announces Support of SB276 with Amendments

Good news! Governor Gavin Newsom has announced his support of SB 276. 
Dr. Pan and the sponsors of the bill have agreed on amendments that will ensure fake medical exemptions do not undermine community immunity. This means SB 276 has the Governor’s FULL SUPPORT as we head into Thursday’s hearing.

The amendments make clear that exemptions will be reviewed if they are:

  • Written by a doctor who has signed more than five exemptions in any year
  • Written for a child who attends a school where fewer than 95 percent — the immunization threshold for preventing outbreaks in a community — of its students are up to date on vaccines

For more information, check out the current version of the bill, and read the article on the amendments from the Los Angeles Times.

This was all made possible because of your calls and emails urging Governor Newsom and the Assembly Health Committee to support the bill. Thank you for all you have been doing! Please keep calling and sending messages — the Assembly Health Committee will consider the bill THIS THURSDAY.

Thank you,

Leah Russin
Vaccinate California 

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VACCINATE CALIFORNIA APPLAUDS NEW LEGISLATION THAT WILL PROTECT CALIFORNIA CHILDREN BY ENDING ABUSES TO THE VACCINE EXEMPTION PROCESS

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         

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SB277 takes effect July 1st, 2016

(print pdf of statement)
SACRAMENTO – As required by SB277, starting tomorrow, July 1, personal belief exemptions are no longer accepted to the vaccination requirements for school attendance in California. Children first entering daycare, kindergarten, or seventh grade must be up to date on their immunizations or have a medical exemption from a licensed physician.

Leah Russin, mother and Executive Director of Vaccinate California, the grassroots coalition of thousands of pro-vaccination parents who advocated for SB277, issued the following statement about the law going into effect:

“This marks the start of a healthier, safer California. With SB277 in effect, vaccination rates will continue increasing as parents protect their children and communities, making our state more resilient to preventable disease outbreak. The new law is already working, improving quality of life, and saving lives. As each new class of children gets immunized, fewer and fewer families will have to face the fear of measles or other debilitating and life-threatening illness.”

SB 277 is already having an impact. The discussion as the bill was considered and the measles outbreak last year are credited with triggering an increase in vaccination rates as discussed by the California Department of Health in the 2015-2016 Child Care Immunization Assessment.

SB 277 was authored by Senators Dr. Richard Pan and Ben Allen and signed by Governor Jerry Brown exactly one year ago on June 30, 2015. The bill was supported by a broad coalition, including the California Immunization Coalition, California Medical Association, March of Dimes, Parent Teachers Association, Black Health Network, American Academy of Pediatrics California Chapter, and many more.