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‘Children Are Suffering’: Advocates Push for Changes to California’s Vaccine Exemptions

A doctor holds a syringe to vaccinate a baby with an injection. (Vchal/Getty Images)

Angelina Delfin is a California Correspondent for The Daily Signal.

Medical professionals and health advocates concerned about restoring balance to California’s medical exemption system attended a hearing this week to urge lawmakers to amend the state’s current law.

At a Senate Health Committee meeting Wednesday, members heard testimony on a bill that would update California’s medical exemption policy and let medically fragile children attend schools without having to receive vaccines.

“California’s children are suffering right now, and medically vulnerable children are being denied access to education,” Amy Bohn, president of the civil rights group Perk Advocacy, told committee members.

SB 1377, introduced this year by California Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones, R-San Diego, would repeal California’s law regarding medical exemptions to the statewide immunization mandate for school children.

In its place, the legislation would require physicians to use accepted standards of care when deciding whether a medical exemption is appropriate, and prohibit them from following the criteria established by the California Department of Public Health.

It would also prohibit children from being denied access to education, schools, or child care facilities based on their medical exemption status or being treated differently from other students.

Dr. Richard Fox, a California-licensed physician and pediatrician of 48 years, told the committee that many parents have a difficult time getting children the medical exemptions they need under current California law.

“Parents sometimes contact me seeking medical exemptions. I uniformly decline because I routinely see physicians lose their licenses,” Fox said. “I won’t go anywhere near such exemptions; the penalties for being wrong are too severe.”

“There are too many landmines and no safe harbors. Even though California provides for medical exemptions on paper, it does not in real life.”

Darrlene Alquiza, CEO of the civil rights group Informed Policy Advocates, said Jones’ bill, if passed, would make important updates to California’s law on vaccines.

“[The bill will] update vaccine mandate policies in California to return physician rights to grant medical exemptions to their patients, rather than the current policy of the Department of Public Health overseeing and approving vaccine exemption requests,” she said.

Alquiza also argued that the bill is necessary to prevent children with existing medical conditions from being denied an education solely due to their vaccination status. 

“The bill also protects patients from discrimination, as we are observing children denied access to school, and hospitals turning them away from receiving their medical care,” she said. “This bill is an important first step to remedy overly strict vaccine mandate policies in California.”

Jones assured committee members that SB 1377 “is not an anti-vax bill.”

“This bill does not call into question the efficacy of childhood immunizations. This bill puts doctors back in the driver’s seat when it comes to care for our children, where they have always belonged,” he said.

“We trust our doctors. The primary question this bill poses is, do we trust our primary care physicians or not.”

Despite those statements, when SB 1377 came up for a vote, committee members voted 4-3 against it.

Opponents of the bill, including Dr. Dean Blumberg, a Sacramento pediatrician specializing in pediatric infectious diseases, said California’s current law doesn’t need changing.

“SB 1377 would eliminate the current oversight and enforcement mechanisms that are working to ensure that medical exemptions are issued for true medical reasons. Now is not the time to eliminate the system that works and does not need fixing,” Blumberg said.

Despite the committee’s vote against the measure, Alquiza said, “It is still very important that the bill was introduced because it didn’t die without having two Democrat co-authors sign on, which is a very good sign for our movement.”

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