Vaccine exemptions: California Senate overwhelmingly passes SB 277, abolishing most opt-outs

[alp227]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

SACRAMENTO -- A controversial bill that abolishes "personal belief exemptions" for vaccinations won overwhelming approval in the California Senate on Thursday, bolstering supporters' hopes that it will also clear the Assembly and be signed into law.

The measure by Democratic Sens. Richard Pan, of Sacramento, and Ben Allen, of Santa Monica -- introduced after a outbreak of measles in December at Disneyland sickened 136 Californians -- passed 25-10 after the two senators agreed to compromises aimed at easing its passage.

"Vaccines are necessary to protect us. That protection has been eroding," Pan, a pediatrician, said in appealing for passage. "The science is clear: Vaccines are safe and efficacious."

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_28115461/bill-restricting-vaccine-exemptions-overwhelmingly-passes-state-senate

[BlueJazz]

1. Great..just great, now everybody is going to catch alltism.

[longship]

2. Hurray! Good news for everybody! R&K nt

[midnight]

3. No... Not those who want a choice....

[uppityperson]

5. Poor people who do not have the choice anymore to risk the health of many?

Next thing they'll be passing laws mandating seat belts in cars. Oh, the humanity!

[enlightenment]

7. The right of your fist ends

where my nose begins.

[alp227]

9. To spread infectious diseases? nt

[bluestateguy]

4. Parents who don't like it can move to another state or homeschool

nt

[LeftyMom]

8. Homeschooling in CA has the same vaccine requirements as public and private schools.

[SheilaT]

13. Really? How wonderful.

Homeschool all you want -- and I actually get it that sometimes homeschooling is a good choice -- but your kids will also be interacting with the wider world, and THAT'S why you need to vaccinate.

[LeftyMom]

15. Of course.

[SheilaT]

16. Even though you obviously get it, as do many others here,

the anti-vaccers miss the important point about living in the larger world.

Thanks for your support.

[still_one]

17. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. I pictured a time when young couples would be asking each other if they've had all their shots.

[SunSeeker]

11. Good. nt

[SoapBox]

12. Good.

Don't like it?

Get the hell out of California and go live in some crazy state with the anti-vax bunch.

Enjoy your diseases...I pity what the dumb fuck parents do to their spawn.

[LittleGirl]

14. I have a medical exemption from those vaccines

as I can't process the metals in them and get very very sick. I am happy to see this.

An excuse of "just because" is not reason enough to risk infecting millions of people. One really needs to do research and get a doctor to exempt you with valid medical reasons otherwise, move to a state that doesn't require it. Just-because isn't a reason and is stupid.

[Android3.14]

18. It will be interesting to see if this stands

Vaccines are good, even if some of the advocates of vaccination and most anti-vaxxers are as informed as a bowl mice, but I think the coming court challenges will have valid arguments that may invalidate this legislation.

There are similarities between the arguments against forced ultrasounds as a condition for an abortion and forced vaccinations.

[NuclearDem]

19. No. Mandatory ultrasounds and mandatory vaccinations

aren't even remotely the same thing.

[Android3.14]

22. Well, except for the fact that...

Well, except for the fact that both include the government forcibly invading a person's body under the guise of medical necessity, regardless of the patient's personal beliefs, in order to reassure an ignorant portion of the population who mistakenly believe that the absence of the procedure is a personal threat.

Along with that minor similarity, there is the Constitutional question of whether or not U.S. citizens have the right to "body integrity". Per wikipedia, "The United States Constitution does not contain any specific provisions regarding the rights one has with respect to his or her physical body or the specific extent to which the state can act upon bodies.[10] However, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld rights to privacy, which, as articulated by Julie Lane, often protects rights to bodily integrity."

Please understand me. I and my my entire family received their vaccinations, I encourage everyone to get their kids vaccinated, and those who choose not to vaccinate their kids are a bunch of idiots. In fact, in earlier postings I was one of the first on DU to suggest the government tie vaccinations to the access of government services.

Yet just because a person is an idiot is little justification for encroaching on their civil liberty by forcing him or her to undergo a medical procedure. One might as well sterilize persons with mental retardation to reduce increasing the population of persons with disabilities, force women to undergo abortions because their fetus has a defect that will cause a burden on the medical infrastructure, or lobotomize convicts in order to reduce the stress on an over populated prison system. All of these examples have benefits, but the restriction to encroach on a person's body integrity should supersede any supposed government mandate.

Then there is the conflict between whether a parent's poor decision should have the consequence of denying basic services to children.

Making the argument that forced vaccinations have similarities to forced ultrasounds is quite simple. Like I said, it will be interesting to see how the court challenges come out.

[NuclearDem]

24. Mandatory vaccinations and mandatory ultrasounds are not the same thing.

Mandatory ultrasounds are entirely medically-unnecessary procedures designed to shame women out of getting a completely legal procedure. There's absolutely no public health benefit to them; in fact, denying reproductive health to women is a negative impact on public health.

Mandatory vaccinations prevent the spread of disease. There's a considerable public health interest in seeing as many people vaccinated as possible--herd immunity requires most of the population to be immune, and people who opt out of vaccinations endanger everyone else.

Sorry, don't buy the slippery slope nonsense that this is going to lead to mandatory abortions or forced sterilization. Vaccinations are not in any way comparable to those.

[Android3.14]

27. Your response is an opinion

Your opinion that vaccinations are medically necessary is also one with which I happen to agree.

However, your opinion, my opinion, or the opinions of people eager to give up their civil liberties for a false sense of safety or a false impression of saving human lives mean little.

Your listing of the differences, between mandatory vaccinations and mandatory ultrasounds fails to address the self evident comparison I made earlier. Certainly there are differences, but just as certainly there are profound similarities, and it is those similarities that create fodder in this debate.

You may be unhappy with the comparison, but there is little I can do about that.

One thing, though. Your statement "herd immunity requires most of the population to be immune, and people who opt out of vaccinations endanger everyone else" is misleading. People who opt out, in general, are not endangering everyone. They are only endangering others who are without vaccinations and a miniscule portion of the immunized population for which vaccinations fail. The benefit of herd immunity is that it reduces the stress on the healthcare infrastructure. It is gross misinformation to state that a lack of herd immunity "endangers everyone", as it promotes mob hysteria and fear. It is misinformation such as this that will undermine the arguments in court promoting compulsory vaccination, and I would recommend that we stick to the actual consequences.

[NuclearDem]

28. You know that compulsory vaccination has been ruled constitutional time and time again, right?

This is a settled issue (for over a hundred years in fact) that only anti-vaxxers still want to challenge.

[Android3.14]

29. Did not know that

You are correct.

This debate then will play out in legislatures.

[groundloop]

21. NOT a good comparison.... forced ultrasound is a useless hoax, vaccination saves lives

[Android3.14]

23. I dislike playing devil's advocate when it comes to abortion

However, forced ultrasound as a useless hoax and the usefulness of vaccines are things upon which you and I may agree, but there are many-many others who believe the ultrasound procedure saves the lives of fetuses.

The comparison of forced ultrasounds and forced vaccinations is a good one, and it is one we should keep in mind as many on DU advocate for the government to have the right to inject foreign material into a person's body against his or her will, based on the argument that it will save lives.

BTW, I support vaccinations.

[HockeyMom]

20. Does this include a shot every year

for the "deadly, contagious influenza disease" that the CDC recommends for everyone over 6 months old?

[Dr Hobbitstein]

25. Seeing as the flu vaccine

Has never been a requirement for school attendance, I'm gonna go ahead and say no.

But, you being one of DU's resident anti-vaxxers, what does it matter?

[leftofcool]

26. Good!

[Humanist_Activist]

30. Good n/t