Hundreds of people travel to Maine's capital for Vaccination Bill hearing

AUGUSTA – Hundreds of people traveled to the nation's capital Wednesday to testify on a bill that would eliminate non-medical exemptions from the requirements for vaccinating children against measles and other infectious diseases.

A few hours before the start of the public hearing, an entrance line slipped through the door of the committee room and into the hallway of the building where the Legislative Assembly Education and Cultural Affairs Committee met. .

The bill, sponsored by Representative Ryan Tipping, D-Orono, and Senator Linda Sanborn, D-Gorham, would remove philosophical and religious exemptions to improve vaccination rates and make Maine less likely to return preventable infectious diseases. like measles, whooping cough and chicken pox.

Maine has the highest pertussis rate in the country, also known as whooping cough, with 90 cases in the first two months of this year and 446 cases in 2018.

In Maine, one of the highest rates of school unsubscription in the country is when parents check a box saying a philosophical or religious objection to vaccines when they enroll their children in school. Maine would join California, West Virginia and Mississippi as the only states to completely eliminate non-medical exemptions. California abolished the exemptions two years ago as a result of a measles outbreak.

This year, Washington State and New York City are experiencing measles outbreaks caused by unvaccinated people who spread the infectious disease. More than 70 people have contracted measles in Washington and 133 up to now in New York.

Some schools in Maine have reported dangerously low vaccination rates, compromising what is known as herd immunity. Herd immunity refers to the protection against infectious diseases that occurs when a large part of the population is immunized, including through vaccination. For some infectious diseases, herd immunity may be impaired if less than 95% of the students are vaccinated.

Maine disease control and prevention centers reported that 31 public elementary schools reported rates of at least 15% of unvaccinated maternal students during the 2017-2018 school year. , the last year for which statistics were available.

In 2017/18, 5% of Maine children entering kindergarten – about 600 children across the state – had non-medical exemptions for vaccinations, their parents were not included in the program. being removed for philosophical or religious reasons.

This story will be updated.

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