With a declaration that the science on vaccines is “clear,” Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a strict and controversial law aimed at boosting immunization rates in the wake of a measles outbreak that was ignited at Disneyland Resort.
The new law – which was hotly debated in the Legislature, drawing busloads of protesting parents from across the state – will make it harder for parents to dodge vaccines for children enrolled in public and private school.
“The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases,” Brown said in signing the measure, Senate Bill 277. “While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the community.”
Two options will remain for children who are unvaccinated and partially vaccinated to attend private or public school: They may obtain medical waivers or follow delayed vaccine schedules, meaning they are behind on their shots but intend to get them. Those children may enroll as conditional entrants.
The new law takes effect in the 2016-2017 school year, but students’ immunization records will only be checked when they enroll in kindergarten and seventh grade and when they enroll in a new school.
So an unvaccinated first-grader who remains in the same school would have until seventh grade to catch up, and an unvaccinated eighth-grader could finish high school without getting vaccinated, unless switching schools.
With the Democratic governor’s signature, California now wields one of the toughest vaccine laws in the country.
It was among 20 states that allowed for personal belief exemptions and among 48 that allowed for religious exemptions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California now joins only two other states – Mississippi and West Virginia – in allowing only medical exemptions.
The tougher laws work, experts say, pointing to Mississippi, which has the highest rate – 99 percent – of vaccinated kindergartners in the country. West Virginia isn’t far behind.
Dr. Bob Sears, a Capistrano Beach-based pediatrician and a proponent of delayed vaccine schedules, said parents will be distrustful of a government that forces vaccinations. He expects most parents will take advantage of the option to delay vaccines or obtain medical waivers.
He and other opponents have questioned whether SB 277 would actually help contain outbreaks, pointing to the waning effectiveness of the whooping cough vaccine. For both adults and children who get the shot, high levels of protection decrease after the first two years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The governor went ahead and signed it basically operating under the general principle that vaccines are good, they save lives, and therefore any bill which makes them more mandatory should by default be a positive change for California,” said Sears.
The divisive debate about SB 277 touched on the efficacy and safety of vaccines and forced lawmakers to choose between the rights of parents who don’t believe immunizing their children is safe and the rights of parents to send their children to school without the risk of contracting diseases.
Opponents also said parents should have the right to make medical decisions for their children, and some epidemiologists said educating parents about the safety and efficacy of vaccines is a better approach than a tough mandate.
Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale, said the bill won’t be effective, because unvaccinated children will still mingle with other kids outside of school, like when playing sports.
“Choosing to infringe on the right of students to attend school simply does not make sense,” he said.
Others feared a medical waiver would be difficult to obtain, particularly for siblings of children who have had severe reactions to vaccines, including seizures. Such side effects are very rare, according to public health officials.
SB 277 was introduced following an outbreak of measles at Disneyland in December. Public health officials said an infected park-goer spread the highly contagious virus to 131 people in California. Of the 81 people whose vaccination status was known, 70 percent had not been vaccinated.
Last school year, about 10 percent of kindergartners in California and in Orange County were not fully up to date on their shots. Of those, about 3 percent of Orange County kindergartners obtained personal belief and religious exemptions, according to California Department of Public Health data.
But there were pockets, mostly in coastal South Orange County, where the rates of unvaccinated children are much higher, reaching 62 percent at Journey School in Aliso Viejo. These pockets, researchers have found, fuel outbreaks.
As much as 95 percent of a community’s population needs to be vaccinated in order to contain outbreaks, according to public health officials.
Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com and @jennakchandler on Twitter
