As of Wednesday April 15, 2015, the Senate Education Committee decided to delay its vote on the bill regarding the end of all personal belief vaccination exemptions due to concerns from the opposing side.

by  Christina Yang

California law requires that children entering kindergarten are to obtain vaccinations for several diseases. However, parents are currently able to obtain exemptions if vaccinations are against personal or religious beliefs by providing documentation stating that the parents have been informed about the vaccine and disease.

Due to these exemptions, in 2014, 13,500 personal belief exemptions and 2,700 religious exemptions were granted in California. This was also the year that there were 123 confirmed cases of measles in California, read more. 

Because the potentially dangerous consequences of vaccination exemptions, Senators Richard Pan and Ben Allen have proposed a bill, SB-277 Public Health: Vaccinations, to end certain vaccination loopholes.

The bill would remove all personal belief exemptions of vaccinations in public school settings. The bill also mentions the vaccinations that are to be received before a child enters the public school system such as pertussis (whooping cough), varicella (chicken pox), measles, and mumps to name a few. The benefits of this bill would eradicate the entry of preventable diseases in the United States.

Some of the views state that pulling children who are not vaccinated out of the public health system would result in those children being home schooled or be sent to private schools which many people believe is not a real and long term solution to the problem. Others believe that the bill is a good starting point on addressing the issue but isn't fully developed. Despite the opposition, there is still support for the bill.  As of Wednesday April 15, 2015, the Senate Education Committee decided to delay its vote on the bill regarding the end of all personal belief vaccination exemptions due to concerns from the opposing side.