Calif. lawmakers advance controversial vaccine bill

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A bill that would eliminate personal-belief exemptions from vaccine requirements passed a state health panel amid impassioned pleas from parents, doctors and activist Robert Kennedy Jr.

Under the proposal, which Wednesday passed the state Senate Health Committee on a 6-2 vote, exemptions would be available only for children with health problems.

"Vaccines are one of the major health achievements of mankind," said Sen. Richard Pan, a Sacramento Democrat who is the author of the bill and a pediatrician. "Let me be clear: SB 277 does not mandate vaccinations. But that choice requires responsibility, and that responsibility requires we protect all children attending school."

Supporters say the measure would increase the number of vaccinated young people and improve public health.

About 3% of California children are not vaccinated; however, in some counties the number of unvaccinated students is much higher. For instance, in Nevada County about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, more than a quarter of students have not been vaccinated.

Public health officials believe an immunization rate of at least 90% is critical to minimizing the potential for a disease outbreak.

Opponents, including Kennedy, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, said the measure takes away parents' rights.

Kennedy has been promoting the film Trace Amounts and is editor of a book called Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak, linking autism to the vaccine preservative thimerosal. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the mercury-containing chemical has been removed from routine childhood vaccines since 2001.

At a rally ahead of Wednesday's legislative hearing, Kennedy said he had all six of his children vaccinated, but he remains concerned the pharmaceutical industry profits immensely when governments make vaccines mandatory.

"Because there is risk, there must be choice," said parent Karen Kain, an anti-vaccine activist whose daughter, Lorrin, died in 2009. She said the problems began in 1994 when she brought her 6-week-old daughter, born in Newport Beach, Calif., to the doctor for her diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus shot and received one in a bad batch.

Lorrin's case has been featured in an anti-vaccine ad, paid for by Minnesota-based Health Choice, that has aired on California TV stations.

"I did everything right and I believed in vaccines," she said.

But those who don't believe in vaccines allowed 7-month-old Mobias Loop to contract measles, said his mother, Ariel Loop of Pasadena, Calif. He was exposed when his family went to Disneyland, and he was too young to receive his measles, mumps and rubella vaccination beforehand.

"You lose part of your right to make that decision (on vaccination) when you are also affecting other people," Ariel Loop said. "You don't get to be a biohazard to society."

Months after recovering, Mobias is still having complications with his eyes, she said.

"I shouldn't have had to fear for his life," Ariel Loop said.

Dr. Dean Blumberg, a pediatrician who testified on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the California Medical Association, said childhood vaccination has been so successful that it's easy to overstate their risks and dismiss the diseases they prevent.

"Unfortunately, there's much misinformation about vaccine safety and effectiveness," Blumberg said. "Let me be clear: There is no scientific controversy about vaccine safety and vaccine effectiveness. … This is not open to dispute among mainstream doctors and scientists."

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, California is among 20 states that allow for exemptions based on personal belief and 48 that allow for religious exemptions.

California is now one step closer to becoming the 31st state to disallow personal- and religious-belief exemptions for vaccines. If the bill becomes law, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only other states with such strict vaccine rules.

Similar efforts to reduce exemptions were proposed elsewhere after a measles outbreak in December that started at Disneyland and sickened more than 100 people across the U.S. and in Mexico. However, in Oregon and Washington state such proposals were rejected recently.

Contributing: The Associated Press