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4 years agoon
Gov. Gavin Newsom says he is likely to support a bill dealing with medical exemptions of vaccines required for children to attend California schools.
Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) authored SB 276, which would place government oversight on doctors who write exemptions.
The proposed law would require the state health department to review exemptions of schools with an immunization rate of less than 95%, or doctors who grant five or more exemptions per calendar year. The bill also creates a standardized form for doctors to use when filling out exemptions.
Children are required to receive vaccinations to attend public or private schools. The bill does not apply to home-schooled students.
Currently, there is no automatic review process of doctors granting exemptions. Pan and Newsom say that the exemptions are being abused. During his testimony at Senate and Assembly hearings, Pan noted social media ads posted by some doctors to grant exemptions for a fee without ever examining the child.
Related Story: Vaccine Exemptions: Do Health Officials Want to Override MDs?
At every step of the bill, opponents rallied and testified for hours during hearings at the Capitol. The groups range from parents concerned about vaccine safety, celebrity activist like Robert Kennedy, Jr., and the medical profession, most notably Dr. Bob Sears, the Orange County physician being examined by state authorities for granting exemptions.
Related Story: RFK Jr. Opposes Bill Reviewing Medical Exemptions for Vaccines
Among the concerns brought up at the health committees of both chambers, was that SB 276 would negatively alter the doctor-patient relationship. Parents also told stories about injuries suffered by their children from vaccinations, calling into question the safety and testing of such vaccines.Related Story: California Vaccine Rules Advance Over Emotional Opposition
The bill sits in the Assembly appropriations committee in the suspense file, placed there because of its estimated price tag of $3 million annually to implement. The committee is expected to vote on bills in the suspense file, as to whether they continue or die, on Aug. 29.
If the bill passes out of appropriations, it is expected to go to the full Assembly for a vote.
Correction, 8/03/2019: a prior version of the story indicated an amendment to the bill would “grandfather” exemptions.
As a point of clarification, the stricken section of law would no longer mandate that prior exemptions be examined by state officials. However, as many readers of the story pointed out, that does not necessarily “grandfather” prior exemptions.
David Taub has spent most of his career in journalism behind the scenes working as a TV assignment editor and radio producer. For more than a decade, he has worked in the Fresno market with such stops at KSEE-24, KMJ and Power Talk 96.7. Taub also worked the production and support side of some of TV sports biggest events including the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals and NASCAR to name a few. Taub graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. You can contact David at 559-492-4037 or at Send an Email
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