Washington State House Committee passes bill to ban personal and philosophical exemptions from vaccines



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A committee of the Washington State House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill banning the personal or philosophical exemption of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children from the United States. 39, school age in times of outbreak of the virus.

The bill was passed by the state health and wellness committee, despite opposition from critics that parents should have the right to choose whether or not to vaccinate their children, reported the Seattle Times.

The nine Democrats on the committee voted to move the bill forward, along with its sponsor, state representative Paul Harris, the only Republican to support it.

The bill will now be referred to the Rules Committee of the House, which is also the seat of Harris, before being sent to the entire House for a vote. Hundreds of anti-vaccination supporters protested the bill earlier this month.

A bill proposed by the state Senate would ban personal or philosophical exemptions for all mandatory vaccines, not just for the ROM vaccine, the newspaper said.

Governor Jay Inslee (D) said the state of emergency in Washington at the end of last month following a measles outbreak.

According to Clark County Health officials, an anti-vaccination "hot spot" near Portland, Minerai, where 53 cases of measles were confirmed Thursday afternoon.

Of the 54 confirmed cases, 47 people were not immunized against the disease and one received the MMR vaccine. The immunization status of five people has not yet been confirmed and one person has already been hospitalized.

According to state data, approximately 6.7% of Clark County students were exempt from the requirement to be immunized as soon as they entered kindergarten due to personal or religious reasons during the course of the year. 2017-2018 school year.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that about 2% of the country's children give up immunizations required for non-medical reasons.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 17 states allow vaccine exemptions to "philosophical beliefs" because of personal, moral or other beliefs.

The modern anti-vaccination movement persisted despite scientific research that refuted the myth that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism.

The CDC reported that two doses of MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella were approximately 97% effective in preventing the disease.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne virus that has become the leading cause of death among children worldwide after the eradication of smallpox in 1980. It was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 after a lack of continued transmission of the disease. the disease for more than a year.

Last year, 349 cases of measles were confirmed in 26 states and in the District of Columbia. This is the second largest number since 2000, according to the CDC. 667 cases were reported in 2014.

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