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OLYMPIA, Washington (AP) – Lawmakers in the state of Washington on Friday advanced a measure that would prevent parents from seeking a personal or philosophical exemption to vaccinate their school-age children against measles, while Northwestern Pacific fights an outbreak of contagious viruses.
The House Health and Wellness Committee approved Bill 1638 by 10 votes to 5. The entire House could vote on this in the coming weeks.
The law comes in the context of an epidemic that has sickened more than 50 people in the Pacific Northwest and has led Washington Governor Jay Inslee to declare the state of the Pacific. emergency. Health officials have reported at least 54 known cases in the state of Washington and four in Oregon.
Washington is one of 17 states, including Oregon, that allow a non-medical vaccine exemption for "personal, moral, or other beliefs," according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Washington now allows immunization exemptions for children in public or private schools or licensed child care centers on the basis of medical, religious, personal or philosophical beliefs. Unless otherwise requested, a child must be vaccinated against almost a dozen diseases – including poliomyelitis, whooping cough and mumps – and present evidence of acquired immunity before attending school or attending a day care center.
Hundreds of people who oppose the lifting of waivers, including environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appeared at a public hearing on legislation last week.
A broader measure introduced in the state Senate, which would not allow personal or philosophical exemptions for mandatory school vaccinations, is due to be heard next Wednesday.
Four percent of high school students in Washington benefit from an exemption from non-medical vaccines, the state health department said. Of these, 3.7% of the exemptions are personal and the others are religious.
In Clark County, a region located north of Portland, Oregon, where all but one of Washington's cases are concentrated, 6.7% of kindergarten children benefit from a non-exempt exemption. Medical for the 2017-2018 school year, said health officials.
California lifted the personal belief vaccine exemptions for public and private schoolchildren in 2015 after the measles outbreak at Disneyland that sickened 147 people and spread to the United States and Canada. Vermont also dropped its personal exemption in 2015.
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