Jerry Brown Must Sign the California Vaccine Bill

California does not often make common cause with Mississippi and West Virginia. America’s blue-red divide doesn’t come any wider than it does between the liberal laboratory of the Pacific West and the conservative cornerstones of the old south. But with a single signature on a single bill, California Gov. Jerry Brown could ensure that the largest state in the nation joins the two far smaller ones in what ought to be a simple, primal mission: keeping children healthy. The pending bill, which passed the California legislature with bipartisan majorities and now rests on Brown’s desk, is known simply as SB277 and it does a straightforward job—removing the religious and personal belief exemptions that allow parents to refuse to vaccinate their children. The legislation leaves standing the medical exemption—the waiver families receive when a child has a manifest medical condition like a compromised immune system that would make vaccines dangerous. If the new law is signed, families without the medical waiver will face a choice: get your kids the shots or prepare to home-school them, which would ensure they get an education but would protect other children from whatever pathogens they may be carrying. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only two states in the country that currently have such no-nonsense rules and they’ve got the stellar vaccination rates to prove it: fully 99.9% of the states’ kids are up to date on all their shots. Califo...
Source: TIME: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized anti-vaxxers California Disease Disneyland Gov. Jerry Brown health vaccines viruses Source Type: news