The Washington state Senate has passed a bill blocking exemptions from the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) on grounds of personal or philosophical reasons.
The law prevents parents from exempting their children on personal or philosophical grounds only with respect to the MMR vaccine. Parents in Washington state will still be able to opt out of other school-mandated vaccines on personal or philosophical grounds.
Exemptions to the MMR vaccine on religious or medical grounds remain unaffected.
Exemptions for medical reasons are permitted in all states.
The bill was introduced amid a Washington state measles outbreak in which 74 people became sick.
Vote Breakdown
The bill passed 25-22, with Senators voting largely along party lines, the Seattle Times reported.“My community is under threat,” said Democrat Sen. Annette Cleveland, according to the Times. “A vote against this bill is a vote against public health.”
Republican representatives questioned the research into vaccine safety and argued that parents should have the right to decide if their children get vaccinated.
“We keep hearing ‘science is settled,’” said Republican Sen. Ann Rivers, The Times reported. “It’s not settled.”
Republican Sen. Steve O'Ban said the passage of the bill is an act of government overreach.
“We are going to mandate and require that parents who have exercised a choice not to have their children undergo an invasive procedure must now do so,” he said, KING5 reported.
More than a dozen amendments to the bill were rejected, including one that would have removed immunization requirements for students attending private schools.
Vaccination Policy
For decades, the U.S. government has made compulsory childhood vaccination one of the cornerstones of its public health policy.“Before the measles vaccination program started in 1963, an estimated 3 to 4 million people got measles each year in the United States,” the CDC writes. “Of these, approximately 500,000 cases were reported each year to CDC; of these, 400 to 500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 developed encephalitis (brain swelling) from measles. Since then, widespread use of measles vaccine has led to a greater than 99% reduction in measles cases compared with the pre-vaccine era.”
“Some countries focus on educating their populace about the benefits of vaccination while leaving the choice to individuals, others offer financial incentives or have made vaccinations mandatory to ensure high coverage rates,” the CMAJ notes in the abstract of the study headlined “Mandatory vaccinations: The international landscape.”