Buzz
Jessica Biel and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were reportedly advocating against stricter vaccine exemption laws in California just yesterday. Each state has its own vaccine requirements for schoolchildren: Some states allow children to skip vaccinations if their parents claim a 'personal belief' exemption, while others, like California, only allow medical exemptions as a legal reason to opt out.
Indeed, there are legitimate medical reasons some children cannot receive vaccines.
There are a few medical conditions that can make vaccines unsafe for certain individuals. For instance, if someone has an allergy to a vaccine ingredient, they may not be able to receive that specific vaccine. If someone is very ill at the moment or has recently received a blood product containing antibodies, they should delay vaccination, though they can safely get vaccinated later. The CDC outlines these scenarios in the 'contraindications and precautions' section of their immunization guidelines.
It seems that some parents and doctors are exploiting the medical exemption policy.
After California abolished personal belief exemptions in 2015, there was a notable increase in families seeking medical exemptions.
Some of these exemptions appeared questionable: claims that a child should be exempt due to asthma or a family history of autoimmune disorders. Additionally, there were instances where individuals other than pediatricians signed off on exemptions. The LA Times reported that one form was even signed by someone at a medical marijuana dispensary, and some doctors were reportedly charging fees for providing medical exemptions. Kaiser Health News has highlighted that certain schools were seeing 'biologically unlikely numbers of medical exemptions,' with doctors seemingly issuing exemptions that diverged from CDC guidelines.
The story Jessica Biel is said to have shared with lawmakers seems to align with this pattern: her family’s doctor advised that their child should receive all vaccines on the typical schedule, so she sought out another doctor willing to provide an exemption.
California’s proposed law would still permit medical exemptions.
So what is it about the law that Biel and Kennedy find so concerning? It’s SB 276, which still permits medical exemptions. However, it requires that these exemptions be submitted on a standardized form and undergo review by the State Public Health Officer, who can approve or deny them.
The law also mandates that all exemptions be recorded in a database, and any exemption found to be 'fraudulent or inconsistent with applicable CDC guidelines' can be revoked.
In essence, the law’s restrictions are designed to ensure that medical exemptions are only granted to children who genuinely have valid medical contraindications. This is likely beneficial for those children, as it would increase the number of vaccinated peers, thereby providing them with greater protection.
