After passing the State Assembly and then the State Senate this past Monday, we have finally approved the law and made California safer for young children across the state.

 

 

By Dominic Tovar

 

With this approval by the Governor, elimination of the personal belief exemption that allowed children to go to school without being vaccinated has been removed from the current list in response to a wave of outbreaks that could have been prevented had individuals been vaccinated.

The bill gained momentum last December with “at least 136 confirmed cases of measles across more than a dozen counties. Nearly 20 percent of those cases have required hospitalization.” Read the full article from CMA here.

 In the time before the bill some views agreed that pulling children who are not vaccinated out of the public health system would result in them being home schooled or be sent to private schools – not really dealing with the issue of vaccination and public health head on. But as California rallied around this need for a better health policy, the state has also grown more united as shown by the organization of vaccination campaigns led by organizations and local communities. 

As the bill stands, children who are home-schooled or participate in independent study do not have to receive immunizations: “Thus, SB 277, while requiring that school children be vaccinated, explicitly provides an exception when a physician believes that circumstances – in the judgement and sound discretion of the physician – so warrant” – Governor Brown. Read the full bill here.

We would like to acknowledge the “I Heart Immunity Campaign” which reacted to the need of a healthier California and has grown with the aid of organizations from all counties and organizations in the state including Vaccinate California, Kaiser Permanente, Pasadena Public Health Department, and many more to advocate for the passing of SB 277 and create a discourse that addressed this issue.