A new state law, co-authored by a San Diego legislator, went into effect Friday, requiring parents to vaccinate their children before they can go to school.
Students in all public and private K-12 schools in the state, licensed day cares, preschools and after school programs must get more than 10 federally recommended vaccines, or they will have to be home schooled, according to the law.
Home schooled students and those in individualized education programs are exempt.
Governor Brown signed the bill last year creating a universal vaccine mandate for all children in the state.
The vaccine debate provoked strong feelings on both sides with some parents feeling it took away their right to figure out what is best for their children, while others didn’t want their own kids getting sick by being exposed to unvaccinated children.
Among the strictest vaccine laws in the country, the law goes too far in the opinion of thousands of parents who feel it makes medical exemptions too difficult to get.
Heather Hawkes decided to move to Florida with her two girls after the California law was passed.
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“My older daughter had a pre-existing medical condition,” Hawkes explained. “It was just infuriating to think that we’d been working with a team of specialists and doctors to make a decision for her health and the state was coming in and acting like a medical provider and take that decision from us.”
She said she’s getting a medical exemption in Florida.
Doctor J. Howard of Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Center told NBC 7 medical reasons to avoid vaccinating children are very rare.
“Other doctors in the community have chosen, since they have an anti-vaccine stance, to accept off-the-wall things like a family history of asthma. We do not feel that’s a valid reason.”
Birdey Elementary parent Shawn Vandriver was alarmed several years ago to find out his son’s school had high rates of parents not vaccinating their children.
He said he respected their choices, but did not want it to endanger his son’s health.
“I would say that parents that choose not to vaccinate their children, they are making a choice. They’re choosing to home school their children,” Vandriver said.
Parents can exempt their children from the law if they feel it goes against their family’s personal beliefs, but they would have already needed to have filled out an exemption form and have gotten it approved by the end of last year.
The bill is open-ended, which means the state could add more required vaccines in the future.
You can click on this link to search middle school vaccine rates in San Diego County.
