• On June 30, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a contentious bill that mandates vaccines for almost all children. The California Legislature passed it on June 29. The LA Times reported that the final legislative vote took place along mostly partisan lines with Democrats in favor of the bill. “I believe in the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and I’m glad to see the bill moving forward,” state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D- Santa Barbara) said in an email to the Sun prior to Brown signing it. “This bill is a balanced approach that seeks to protect protect our children in our schools from highly preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough, while still allowing for medical exemptions.” The bill allows children with certain medical problems to be exempt from the mandate, but parents are no longer able to cite personal or religious beliefs as a reason to get out of required vaccinations. Opponents to the bill say that vaccines are unsafe and that it infringes on a parents’ right to choose whether to vaccinate their children. In a signing letter accompanying the announcement on the governor’s website, Brown writes “The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases. While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the community.”
This article appears in Jul 2-9, 2015.
