California moves closer to ban exempting kids from vaccination

© Rich Pedroncelli/AP/PAe
The vaccination bill has proved contentious.

    

A bill designed to make it harder for parents to stop their children being vaccinated is a step closer to being enacted. Today, it was passed by California's state education committee. The bill was drafted in response to the outbreak of measles that began at Disneyland in December and infected 147 people from seven states.

Of the 81 Californians infected whose vaccination status is known, 70 per cent were unvaccinated. The bill, brought by two Californian senators - one a paediatrician, bans parents from exempting their kids from standard school vaccinations on the grounds of "personal belief" rather than genuine medical reasons, such as having a compromised immune system.

It was first brought to the education committee earlier this month but was pulled before a vote because of vociferous protests from anti-vaccination lobbyists and concerns of some on the committee that it was unconstitutional.

The version of the bill that was voted through today includes amendments that allow unvaccinated children to study in organised groups at home. If the bill gets through all the legislative hurdles, it could be written into law by September and come into force at the start of 2016. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only two other states to have such a law.

Vitriolic response

That's a big if though. So far, the bill has proved contentious, with a Facebook post portraying one of the senators as a Nazi and threatening emails being sent to the offices of both senators.

The US isn't the only country struggling with its vaccination rates. The Disneyland outbreak is dwarfed by an ongoing measles epidemic in Germany. As of Monday, there have been 1738 cases reported, quadruple the total number for 2014. The outbreak has led to calls for mandatory measles vaccinations.

In Australia, the government announced a "no jab, no pay" policy last week that will mean withholding welfare payments from parents who fail to have their children immunised. It follows the death of a 4-week-old baby last month from whooping cough, who was too young to be vaccinated against the disease.