California has passed one of the strictest school vaccination laws in the country, banning the “personal exemption” option for school-aged children. The bill leaves the medical exemption in place. The hotly contested bill comes in the wake of a pertussis epidemic in 2010, with nearly 10,000 confirmed cases in the state, including the death of 10 infants. Last year, a highly publicized measles outbreak occurred at Disneyland, which led to more than 100 new measles cases.
The new law will require all school-aged children to be vaccinated prior to starting school, effective 2016-2017. The law applies to both public and private schools as well as day care centers. This leaves home schooling as the only option for parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. California is the third state to eliminate the personal exemption option, behind Mississippi and West Virginia. The effort to pass the new law was led by Democratic State Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician from Sacramento.
Opposition to the bill was vigorous and at times very emotional, with some opponents of the bill considering a class action lawsuit and a voter referendum.
Gov. Jerry Brown noted as he signed the bill, “The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases.”
California has passed one of the strictest school vaccination laws in the country, banning the personal exemption option for school-aged children.
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