Anti-Vaxxers Score a Legislative Victory in California

[NewsWeek] California anti-vaxxers, while relatively few in number, continue to wield outsize influence in the state. Over the winter, California suffered an outbreak of measles after an unvaccinated person visited Disneyland, prompting lawmakers to draft legislation designed to increase the state's vaccination rates.

But on Wednesday, state legislators could not answer a key question raised by the bill—should unvaccinated children be denied access to public schools?—after hundreds of parents opposed to mandatory vaccines for school children, according to the San Jose Mercury News, appeared before the Senate Education Committee to protest the bill, SB 277.

The bill would have done away with California's controversial 'personal belief exemptions,' which allow parents to choose not to vaccinate their children on the basis of their own personal beliefs. California is one of 20 states that allow such exemptions. More than a quarter of California schools have measles vaccination rates lower than those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to The New York Times.

The bill's author, State Senator Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician, was forced to delay a vote in the Senate Education Committee after some of his fellow lawmakers said they would not vote for a bill that excluded unvaccinated children from public schools. Proponents of the bill spoke for about seven minutes, according to The Sacramento Bee, while opposed parents spent more than two hours arguing against it. “I think maybe some of the senators were taken aback by the ferocity of passion that they saw there, and that might have been impactful,” State Senator Ben Allen, a co-author of SB277, told the Bee.

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US Government Rolls Out Mandatory Adult Vaccination and Tracking Program

This month, federal health officials are rolling out a national adult immunization plan that contains a new Mandatory Adult Vaccination1,2 and Electronic Tracking Program. The government is urging Americans to fulfill their obligation to support and comply with the anti-choice requirement to relinquish responsibility for personal health and well-being to federally appointed health officials through pharmaceutical enhancements.

Public health officials will be monitoring Twitter and Facebook posts for anti-vaccine chatter that may indicate non-compliance with federal vaccine recommendations and state vaccine mandates.


"The measles outbreak in Disneyland is a prime example of how Americans are incapable of protecting their own health and making wise health choices,” said a spokesman for the federally sponsored Anti-Choicers United Campaign.

"We are delighted that every state has pledged to move forward on bills to eliminate vaccine exemptions and support mandatory vaccine compliance, and we remind Americans that failure to vaccinate is a serious biothreat that simply will no longer be tolerated.”

French time-management specialist Aucun Choix—who was not consulted during the negotiations with drug companies that preceded the mandate—commented that “removing choice is one of the most basic steps you can take to simplify your life,” noting that Americans suffer an inordinate amount of stress as a result of having too many choices.

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