Last Wednesday, a bill requiring the vaccination of all children in California moved forward in the state legislature. While exemptions can currently be applied for medical and religious reasons and for “personal belief” in California. This bill would eliminate “personal belief” exemptions. Only two states—Mississippi and West Virginia—allow parents to enroll their children in school without a vaccination if they have a medical exemption. 

Although this bill still faces many hurdles before it can be passed, it would be a major step forward for public health in the state of California, and hopefully, would set an example for other states to follow.

With the growing measles outbreaks around the world—particularly in the United States—we have seen the importance of herd immunity when it comes to vaccinating children. Herd immunity is the concept that when all of the healthy people are vaccinated, there is enough protection against the disease to prevent it from spreading to people who are unable to get the vaccination because they have weakened immune systems or are not yet 12 months old, the youngest age the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination can be given. Problems arise when people who are able to get vaccines don’t, because the disease can then spread to these especially vulnerable populations. This is why California’s bill is so important: it would protect children who are medically unable to get the MMR vaccine from getting the disease. According to the CDC, the measles is spread through the air and is transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets which can result from coughing, sneezing and even breathing. This is especially important in the wake of the Disneyland measles outbreak which happened earlier this year. This was when a multi-state measles outbreak started in California and affected 147 people in seven states between December 28, 2014 and April 15, 2015 according to the CDC.

This bill moving forward  Apr. 22 from the State Education Committee still has to be approved by at least one other committee before going on to the state senate, according to the New York Times. This coincided with a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association on April 21 showing yet again that there is no scientific evidence of a link between vaccines and Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

This study looked at insurance claims for children in the United States born between 2001 and 2007 and found that children who were vaccinated with the MMR vaccine did not show higher rates of ASD than those who had not been vaccinated, including in children who were considered at a higher risk of developing ASD because they have older siblings with ASD. Additionally, the study found that children who had an older sibling with ASD were less likely to be vaccinated, despite the lack of correlation between vaccinations and ASD. 

The original study saying vaccines caused ASD was published by the Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who altered the patients’ histories in the study, according to CNN. By 2004, other authors on the paper had withdrawn their names from the study because they discovered that their was a conflict of interest that Dr. Wakefield did not disclose: a law firm that was going to sue vaccine manufacturers had paid him, according to CNN. The paper has since been retracted, and Dr. Wakefield’s research has been discredited. 

People in the United States who are against vaccinating their children have the right to believe whatever they want to, but acting on this belief crosses a line when it puts other children at risk of severe illness and even death. Children are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get the vaccination when they are 12-15 months old, which means that infants cannot be vaccinated and are therefore not immunized against the measles. 

Also, at such a young age, it is difficult for them to fight off the infection, making them particularly at risk for complications. It is not fair to allow students to go to school without the MMR vaccination because it can be passed from students to vulnerable populations like babies who are not old enough to be vaccinated and people with weakened immune systems who can’t get the vaccine.

It is absolutely ridiculous to let people have religious reasons and “personal belief” factors  to prevent parents from immunizing  their children if they intend to have their children go to a public or even a private school. Putting these vulnerable populations who are unable to get a vaccine for a legitimate medical reason at risk of severe illness or death is extremely selfish and should be deemed illegal, especially in order to be enrolled in a school.

 It is also not fair to the children whose parents choose not to vaccinate them—it’s like letting children ride in a car without a seatbelt. There might not be a high risk of a car accident  occuring, but, if there were one,  the child’s outcome would be so much worse without a seatbelt than with a seatbelt. Wearing a seatbelt is a safety measure that is easy and low-risk, just like the MMR vaccine.