State lawmakers pushing for laxer vaccines rules despite measles outbreaks

Measles is spreading from New York to Texas to Washington State in the fall of the year, but some states want to take the vaccination debate in the opposite direction.

In Oregon, state lawmakers will consider the so-called transparency bill favored by the "hesitant vaccine." New York is eliminating and expanding exemptions that allow parents to opt out. One bill in Texas would prohibit the state of even tracking exemptions.

Story Continued Below

The push to loosen the rules has had more than 160 measles cases in 10 states since Jan. 1, including 74 in Pacific Northwest, according to the states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The epidemics have come into the forefront of recent years, inspiring several states to try and toughen their vaccination mandates with the aim of stemming future outbreaks. Yet some legislators are advocating for their children to be vaccinated.

GOP presidential candidates – including Donald Trump – made the claim that vaccines cause autism. Trump has been silent on the issue. threats.

"We're still getting those things that are good for you." "That does not kill you makes you stronger," said Oregon state Rep. Mitch Greenlick, who is pushing for strict vaccination requirements. He has introduced a bill, OR HB3063, to eliminate all except for those based on medical grounds.

Greenlick, retired Kaiser Permanente research executive, said harassing phone calls. He attributed the vitriol to the combination of misinformation and the state's strong independent streak.

Vaccine policy is not a red-state, blue-state issue. Mississippi and West Virginia – both GOP stalwarts – have the most restrictive policies in the country, for historical reasons, and have staved off legislative and legal efforts to loosen them. Exemptions in both states are allowed only for medical reasons, and even those exemptions are subject to review. West Virginia this session is considering a bill, WV SB454, which would add back the religious and personal objection exemptions.

Most states have religious exemptions for parents belonging to small vaccinated individuals who oppose vaccination – and some vaccinators have even created their own churches to opt out of vaccinating their kids. Seventeen states also allow parents to free their children for philosophical or "personal belief" reasons.

Across the country, lawmakers have introduced more than 130 vaccine-related bills in over 30 states, at a rate that could set a new record, according to the National Vaccine Information Center, a vaccine-skeptical group that closely tracks vaccine legislation. The center says legislators filed 160 bills in 41 states during 2015, setting a record broken by 2017's 184 bills in 42 states.

There's a "much more concerted effort" to push for anti-vaccine legislation, said Amy Pisani, executive director of Vaccinate Your Family. One big trend is the so-called "informed consent" bill, which would require more detailed information about vaccine ingredients.

In Arizona alone, 11 vaccin-related bills have been introduced this session, more than half supported by opponents of mandatory vaccinations.

AZ HB2470 adds a religious exemption to existing law, which already allows for a personal belief exemption, and gets rid of the requirement that parents recognize the potential consequences of not vaccinating their children. Another bill, AZ HB2472, would offer parents an "antibody titer" test to see if their child has defenses to vaccine-preventable diseases. Such tests are often unreliable.

Oregon's OR SB649, authored by Republican Sen. Kim Thatcher and dubbed "Right to Know," would require state health authorities to create a central website with links to all vaccines package inserts, ingredient lists and other information.

Thatcher's constituents had been sent to help make the best decision for their families, "spokesperson Jonathan Lockwood said.

But giving people lists of vaccines is one of the most important things in the world, "said Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California Hastings School of Law in San Francisco. By federal law, parents are getting sick with information about the tiny risks of vaccines.

While few of the bills will be made, it is also recommended that vaccination be avoided. A political standoff in many states underscores the clout of the anti-vaccination community.

In Texas, despite a measles outbreak in Houston, there are no serious efforts to tighten exemptions. But Republican state Rep. Matt Krause introduced a bill, HB1490 (19R), that would prohibit the state from even tracking exemptions. He is part of a group of far-right lawmakers with the Texans for Vaccine Choice PAC. His bill is not expected to advance.

Barbara Loe Fisher, who founded the National Vaccine Information Center, discusses the topic of vaccines and its role in the field of immunization. thought, freedom of religious belief. "

More than a century of federal law has established that states can require vaccination, however. People also have the right to send their children to school without exposing them to preventable, said California Sen. Richard Pan, author of the 2015 state law, CA SB277.

Pan introduced the bill following the Disneyland measles outbreak, which sickened 147 people. Since it went into effect, the overall vaccination rate in California has increased to 95.1 percent, compared with 92.9 percent in the 2015-16 school year. But growing medical exemptions could hurt those earnings, he said.

In this case, Pan said he may consider further restricting his medical condition. That would give California the toughest laws in the country.

"Unfortunately there's a small number of doctors who are profiting," said Pan. "They're monetizing their licenses, they're selling vaccine exemptions." "If you go there you go to anti-vax Facebook pages, they pass along lists of doctors."

Pan, threatened with violence. But he considers it an issue of public safety. "I run for office to try to solve problems and keep the community safe and healthy, and I'm not going to be deterred from that," he said.

In Washington state, Rep. Paul Harris, who represents a district at the epicenter of the measles outbreak, has introduced WA HB1638, which would remove the personal or philosophical exemption – but only for the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The state's medical and religious exemptions would still stand.

"Measles is the most contagious of all the diseases we have vaccinated for, and I just thought it was a great start," said Harris, a Republican. He supports strict policies, but even his limited bill drew protests when it was heard in committee earlier this month.

Another vaccine-preventable disease, pertussis, strikes by the thousands every year. But unlike measles, it spreads not only through vaccines, but also because of its immunity produced by the vaccines, where efficacy is somewhat limited.

Renuka Rayasam and Angela Hart contributed to this report.