[ad_1]
Washington lawmakers have heard skeptics and proponents of immunization at the first public hearing Friday morning over a bill to remove the state's personal immunization exemption for measles, mumps and rubella.
Clark County is currently undergoing a measles outbreak with 53 confirmed cases Friday afternoon. Governor Jay Inslee has declared a public health emergency in response to the outbreak, which local officials have described as a drain on resources.
In response, state representatives Paul Harris (Vancouver) and Monica Stonier (Vancouver) introduced Bill 1638, which would eliminate the state's personal exemption for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. in case of attendance at public schools. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while the 50 states require vaccines for students, 17 states, including Washington, allow families to apply for a personal or philosophical exemption.
"This is a central issue in our community right now," Stonier told the audience.
In 2015, a bill had been introduced to remove the personal exemption for all vaccines, but died after being rejected by lawmakers concerned about parental rights. Senator Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, introduced a similar bill during this session, but the law sponsored by Stonier and Harris only covers the exemption for measles, mumps and rubella vaccine .
At the hearing, Mr. Harris stated that he had not introduced the bill lightly. He also said he heard about children in Clark County who could not go out in public because their compromised immune system left them unable to get vaccinated against the highly contagious disease.
During the hearing, members of the House of Commons Health and Wellness Committee heard from public health officials, medical badociation leaders, and other individuals. favorable to the measure.
"This bill, in simple terms, concerns school safety and the protection of vulnerable children", Dr. John Wiesman, secretary of the Washington State Department of Health, informed the committee.
He said Washington had had three major measles outbreaks in the last 10 years that resulted in the death of a person whose immune system was compromised.
Calling the current epidemic "totally preventable," he said, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems depend on others to get vaccinated. He said the vaccine is safe and effective. He stated that serious adverse reactions caused by the vaccine are very rare and that no serious study has shown it to cause autism.
"The advantage of the vaccine outweighs the risk", said Wiesman. He said that one in 20 people who contract measles get pneumonia and that one in a thousand will develop encephalitis, a serious brain infection. Two out of every 1,000 children who contract measles will die, he said.
He added that states with stricter exemption laws have fewer diseases and higher vaccination rates, which means fewer deaths and less suffering.
Dr. Roy Magnuson, vice president of the medical affairs system at PeaceHealth, also testified in favor of the bill. Clark County Councilor John Blom also spoke in favor of the bill on behalf of the county. Both underscored how the epidemic has put a strain on health care and public health resources.
The panel also heard from other interviewees about vaccine safety and argued that the science on immunization was not resolved.
"Vaccines are neither safe nor effective for everyone," said Dr. Toni Bark, a doctor from Illinois.
Describing the problem as a "complex picture," she said vaccines affected people differently and some of them were more likely to have side effects.
Robert Kennedy, Jr., a renowned environmental activist, asked if the vaccine had been fully controlled for safety.
"Nobody knows the risk profile of the MMR vaccine," he said. "And it's deliberate."
Mary Holland, a professor at the Faculty of Law at New York University, asked the committee not to adopt what she described as a coercive measure violating informed consent. She added that if the bill were pbaded, families would be "clandestine" rather than vaccinating their children.
At a press event that followed the hearing, Harris rebuffed the idea that people were going into hiding rather than getting vaccinated. He pointed to California, which has seen its vaccination rates rise after adopting similar legislation.
Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state health officer and the chief scientific officer, responded to an badertion made at the hearing that the vaccine had caused about 400 deaths. She said this figure may have come from the vaccine adverse reaction reporting system. She said that anyone can report an adverse event to the federal database, but that does not mean that it was verified that it was caused by a vaccination.
She also said that prior to the introduction of the vaccine in the United States, about 500 people died from measles each year. She said she was not aware of any data showing that people were dying of the vaccine.
"We think the vaccine is incredibly safe," said Dr. Rupin Thakkar, president of the Washington chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Harris said he would introduce an amendment to the bill to "strengthen" the religious exemption granted by the state to ensure that those who claim it have "good faith" reasons to do so.
"I find it fascinating that vaccines are at the root of this big problem, to be quite straightforward with you," Harris said.
[ad_2]
Source link
