Doctors in California are praising a bill that passed the California Assembly on July 25, 2015. In the state of California, vaccinations would be essentially mandatory for all children enrolled in schools and daycares. Exemptions for religious and other personal reasons would no longer be allowed. Doctor Hayden Schwenk, clinical assistant professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, commented to the L.A. Times about why it is so important for children to be vaccinated.
“All it takes is one child, who was, through whatever hoop, was able to obtain an exemption, to go somewhere, contract an illness and bring it back to infect the populations that are at greatest risk. It’s hard to approach it halfway.”
Last year, California had to deal with a measles outbreak that caused hundreds of people to become sick. It was discovered that the outbreak was allowed to spread due to children not being vaccinated against measles. This outbreak is what is leading to California becoming the third state in the country to strengthen vaccination laws.
Child vaccinations have seen a decline to parents fearing side effects from the vaccines. It is this fear that allowed parents to refuse vaccinations based on personal reasons. If passed, this law would give parents who have filed personal reason exemptions before January 1, 2016, time before they would need to comply with the California vaccinations law. These children would be allowed to complete their “grade spans” before compliance is mandatory. Grade spans are defined as the years from birth to preschool, kindergarten to sixth grade, and seventh through 12th grades. Children who are exempt from vaccinations due to medical reasons would not be impacted by the new California vaccinations law.
Many of those who are against vaccinations want the children to get the disease naturally. Democratic Senator Richard Pan explains why that is so dangerous.
“People in the opposition say they want children to get these diseases naturally. But children die of these diseases. They become paralyzed. They develop brain damage. This is not something I would wish on anybody’s child.”
Southern California Republican Assemblywoman, Melissa Melendez, voted against the law on the basis that it hinders a parent’s right to choose what they want for their child.
“Today’s vote was not about whether or not you support vaccines. It was about the freedom to make our own choices as citizens.”
If the California vaccinations law is passed, children who are not vaccinated, and do not have a medical exemption, would be forced to be educated at home or some other type of organized homeschool group.
What are your thoughts on California vaccinations becoming mandatory?
[Image via Fox5Sandiego.com]
California Vaccinations: Law That Would Severely Limits Exemptions For Children In School Passes California Assembly, Goes To Senate For A Vote is an article from: The Inquisitr News
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