Washington lawmakers are considering two vaccine exemption bills that would help in eliminating the parents’ ability to claim exemption of vaccination on personal or philosophical backgrounds. The lawmakers are considering these measures as public health officials identified new cases of measles in Washington.
Last week, a House committee weighed a measure that would eradicate the philosophical vaccine exemption option for the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.
On Wednesday, the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee conducted a public hearing on a broader bill that would not allow a personal or philosophical exemption to be granted for any vaccinations required for children.
The two vaccine exemption bills have come amid a measles outbreak that has affected more than 60 people in the United States, which started from Clark County, making the government declare a state of emergency.
“The legislative efforts are about keeping our kids safe from unnecessary diseases,” said John Wiesman, the secretary of the state Department of Health.
He added, “The current measles outbreak in Clark County has highlighted just how dangerous the situation can be and how quickly an infectious disease like measles can just take off.”
On Wednesday, public health officials of Clark County identified one new measles case and one suspect case. They have also identified three new exposure areas, including a Vancouver elementary school.
Seventeen states, including Oregon and Washington, allow some type of vaccine exemption due to personal, moral and other beliefs.
For the 2017-18 school year, public health officials said that nearly seven percent of kindergarteners had a non-medical vaccine exemption.
Currently, Washington allows the exemption for children at licensed day-care centers and public or private schools based on personal, philosophical, medical or religious beliefs.
Unless a vaccination exemption is claimed, children are required to be immunized against or show any proof of acquired immunity for a few diseases, including polio, whooping cough and mumps prior to attending school or a childcare center.
Of the 64 cases confirmed in Clark County, 55 were not vaccinated against measles, six had no verified immunization status, and two children had received only one dose of the MMR vaccine. Forty-five of the confirmed measles cases in Clark County were children between the ages of 1 and 10.
Four cases, which have been related to the outbreak in Washington, were identified in the Portland metropolitan area. In Oregon, Wednesday was called the “exclusion day,” the last day children can attend school without their required vaccinations. If parents are opting out of vaccines, they are advised to provide paperwork describing a personal or medical belief exemption by this date.
Mitch Greenlick, State Rep., said that he has been planning to sponsor a bill to amend state law to get rid of philosophical and religious vaccine exemptions for Oregon children.
Jill Collier, a registered nurse, explained lawmakers at the hearing that she did not consider herself an anti-vaxxer but was opposed to the bill because she believes that the doctor-patient relationship would be affected by legislative requirements on vaccinations.
She said, “We cannot blanket mandate an injection for a child and hold their education hostage for noncompliance.” In 2015, after a measles outbreak at Disneyland, which affected nearly 150 people, California eliminated personal belief vaccine exemptions for children in public as well as private schools. Also, Vermont removed its personal exemption in 2015.
