As usual, California is ahead of the game - this time on mandatory vaccinations.

[raven mad]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/california-vaccination-bill-repeal-personal-belief-exemption_n_6615490.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

(snip)

California Bill Would Make It Harder For Parents To Say No To Vaccines
The Huffington Post | By Lydia O'Connor

Two California lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday morning that would eliminate parents' ability to opt out of school-mandated vaccines because of personal beliefs.

The bill from state Sens. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a pediatrician, and Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), an educator, comes amid the worst measles outbreak in 20 years with more than 100 cases recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The flare-up is anchored in California, where many affluent communities have dangerously low vaccination rates and around 13,000 current kindergarten students are not vaccinated, according to an analysis by the San Jose Mercury News.

(snip) If the bill is passed as filed, parents may only skip having their children vaccinated in cases where it is prevented by physical or medical conditions.

"Immunization of a person shall be required for admission to a school or institution ... unless the child has a physical condition or medical circumstances that contraindicate vaccination as prescribed in Section 120370," the measure reads.

It's bad enough endangering your own children; it's unconscionable endangering the children of others.

[MohRokTah]

1. That's pretty smart.

It's also pretty brave on the part of the Democratic legislatures since so many Vaxxers are liberal and it could cost them their jobs after the next election.

[Dwayne Hicks]

28. Not really

Some are liberal yes, a lot seem to be right wing tea party types.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I am very pleased to see this happening. I hope the bill passes. n/t

[geek tragedy]

3. Good. Hopefully the nuts will be sidelined this time nt

[daredtowork]

4. One possible ramification

Last edited Wed Feb 4, 2015, 07:48 PM - Edit history (1)

This could also provide impetus for home schooling and other libertarian and wingnut alternative schooling ideas. The home schooling movement is part of what fostered the echo chamber that made the Tea Party possible.

Schisms from public schools will reduce their tax funding.

</Cassandra>

[SickOfTheOnePct]

19. True

But so will the number of students that need to paid for. Not quite break even, but close.

[Yo_Mama]

5. You mean BEHIND the game!

California is one of 19 states that allow parents to opt their children out of vaccines because of personal beliefs, the Mercury News notes.

[GeorgeGist]

7. thank you

the ignorance/arrogance at DU often embarasses me.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. Especially when we think of things such as Prop 8...

I'm with you there. Some of the worst comes out of that state, but all states have their warts.

[AtheistCrusader]

34. Mississippi of all places, is LEADING on this issue.

Go figure.

[raven mad]

10. Yo_Mama, that's what this bill will hopefully circumvent.

At least they're going to kick it toward the goal line! (Pardon, I'm still in football mode............)

[Terra Alta]

6. Good. Hope the bill passes.

Religious and personal beliefs should not be an excuse for not vaccinating your kids. If you're going to send your kids to a public school, vaccinate 'em.

[GeorgeGist]

8. But still behind Mississippi.

[raven mad]

12. I truly didn't know that about Mississippi.

Congrats, way South! Will send y'all an iceberg when it's 100+ above and 98% humidity!

[MohRokTah]

16. Meanwhile there's a bill in the Mississippi legislature that would be even more loose than CA.

Yep, if it passes and goes into law, it will be easier to opt out of vaccinations in Mississippi that it currently is in California.

[Glassunion]

27. And West Virginia.

Just sayin'

[NuclearDem]

9. ...after being dreadfully behind the game.

If Mississippi is beating you out at anything other than being terrible, you're in trouble.

[Throd]

13. This won't play well in Marin.

[raven mad]

14. I know so little about various areas of that great state -

spend some time way up north and one summer in San Francisco. But it seems to me y'all are usually way out ahead of the game.

[MohRokTah]

17. There are pockets in Marin County with a vaccination rate of under 26%. eom

[KamaAina]

20. That's got to be West Marin.

Old-school hippies and their descendants all the way.

[Throd]

22. No, it's the Whole Foods crowd with "Coexist" stickers on their Nissan Leaf.

[dissentient]

15. but people could still opt out by home schooling their kids

Some on Du have sounded like they want all children immunized, and not have any exceptions (except for medical reasons) or sneaky ways to get out of it.

So this doesn't seem like it goes nearly far enough if you have that opinion...

[SickOfTheOnePct]

18. Yep n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

21. Mississippi and West Virgina currently allow only medical exemptions.

nt

[daredtowork]

23. It seems progressive from a distance but

It also seems to me Mississippi and West Virginia would be first ib line to re-introduce eugenics. They made the decision that benefited that met the needs of their elites and protected their children.

Interesting how no hardline reference to the Constitution or The Founders comes up when it doesn't suit the current law they want passed.

[NuclearDem]

24. None of which changes the fact that Mississippi and West Virginia have the right policies

while the other 48 states do not.

[4139]

29. Correct, California is way behind

[KMOD]

25. Good.

I hope more states follow through with this as well.

[seveneyes]

26. The circle of stupidity has no beginning and no end

A clue to either lies within why they allowed people to ignore the safety of society in the first place.

[JI7]

30. liberals in California are a big part of the pRoblEm on this issue

What this shows is how far behind California is

[rpannier]

31. Some of the same people who are shocked at climate change denial

and point to science as proof that climate change is real have no problems opposing vaccinations
Bill Maher was one of those (I'm not sure he still is)

I find the science pretty concrete, get vaccinated and climate change is happenig

[iandhr]

32. +1

[iandhr]

33. We can't be self-righteous about this

We as progressives are part of the problem. California liberals who reject everything that's not natural are anti-vaxers. This has united the extreme left and the extreme right.

[truedelphi]

35. I am not at all sure when 53 to 63 confirmed cases of any disease portend an

"epidemic." And apparently, those who independently research such outbreaks are aware that often a serious reaction to the measles' vaccine itself is diagnosed as measles!

http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/January-2015/measles-in-disneyland-third-mmr-shot-and-vaccine.aspx


Most doctors and parents don’t know that the CDC warns, “During outbreaks, measles vaccine is administered to help control the outbreak, and in these situations, vaccine reactions may be mistakenly classified as measles cases. A small proportion of measles vaccine recipients experience rash and fever 10–14 days following vaccination. 67

Yes, MMR vaccine can cause vaccine strain measles infection that looks just like measles. 68

Plus, other common viral infections – like adenovirus infections – can look just like measles with rash, fever and conjunctivitis symptoms 69 70 and be misdiagnosed as measles UNLESS there is expensive RNA lab testing done to confirm that what looks like measles really is wild type measles. 71

[NuclearDem]

36. Please tell me you're not seriously citing NVIC as a source.

[truedelphi]

37. Like most people, i believed all the many "educational points" made about vaccines.

I even still believed in vaccines after I suffered from Guillaume Barre Syndrome, immediately following the swine flu shots that were administered during the 1970's.

At a point in time when I had about two dozen articles published in a Marin County newspaper, I was selected to serve on a California Health Council. During that time period, I kept meeting people who had been in the Vaccine Industry, and then when they refused to fudge the results of their research, or they came forward with some problem they knew needed to be made right so that people would not be getting flawed vaccines, well, low and behold these scientists were fired and then blacklisted. This kept happening for the entire seven years that I served on the Council.

Right now, the Pharmaceutical Interests have all the power. Why? Because the have the media by the short hairs. (Just as the big nicotine firms once held the media hostage, with its lucrative cigarette ads.)

Ever wonder why in the world we have dozens of ads for pharmaceutical products, one right after the other during TV's prime time? Resear4ch shows that Americans no longer respond to these ads.

But the ads offer such an incentive for the networks to report on health matters in a manner consistent with the Pharmaceutical Industry's need to keep selling vaccines.

Barbara Loe Fisher is a remarkable person. I fully support her.

The situation we are in right now is so reminiscent to me of what we non-smokers went through back in the sixties and seventies with regards to cigarettes. "The studies show cigarettes are safe, and blah blah blah. Now get back to your desk, and quit complaining about the grey smoke that is so thick you can't see from your desk to the window twenty feet away!"