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DOSSIER – This photo file of February 6, 2015 shows a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine on a counter in a pediatric clinic in Greenbrae, California. A measles outbreak near Portland has sickened dozens of people in Oregon and Washington State. suspected cases, and public health officials struggling to contain the virus say that low vaccination rates worsen the situation. Clark County Public Health said Sunday, January 28, 2019 that the majority of cases involved children under 10 years. (AP Photo / Eric Risberg, File)
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – A measure to remove the philosophical exemption for the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was approved by the Washington State Senate on Wednesday night.
After some initial confusion as to whether the bill had been properly introduced by the deadline, majority Democrats returned in the evening to debate the measure and passed it by 25 votes against. 22. The House passed the measure last month, but as it was amended by a Senate committee, the bill is returned to the rotunda for a final vote.
The bill was introduced in the midst of a measles outbreak in the state that sickened 74 people. The last case identified in Clark County, in southwestern Washington State – where 73 cases were reported – dates back to March 18th. An outbreak is considered complete after 42 days without new cases.
Democratic Senator Annette Cleveland of Vancouver, a member of the Parliament of this region, said a vote against the measure is "a vote against public health."
"Our responsibility is to take quick action to prevent the potential for unnecessary suffering," she said.
Washington is one of 17 states that allow non-medical vaccine exemption for personal or philosophical beliefs. In addition, medical and religious exemptions exist for public or private schools or licensed state daycares.
Unless waived, children must be vaccinated against almost a dozen diseases – including polio, whooping cough and mumps – and show proof of their acquired immunity before they can attend school or daycare. While the Senate had first asked for a bill that would remove the philosophical exemption for all required infant vaccines, it finally decided to go ahead with the more limited measure of the House to focus on measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, also known as MMR.
Republican Senator Steve O. Ban of University Place said that passing the bill is an inappropriate exercise of governmental power.
"We will impose and demand that parents who have made the choice not to submit their children to an invasive procedure must now do so," he said.
More than a dozen amendments were rejected, including one that would have removed the immunization requirements of students attending private schools and another that would have required the Board of Health to obtain approval. to add vaccines to the list of required immunizations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that 555 cases of measles were confirmed this year, compared with 465 a week ago.
Although 20 states, including Washington, reported cases, New York was the epicenter with nearly two-thirds of cases.
Four percent of K-12 students in Washington benefit from exemptions for non-medical vaccines, the state health department said. Of these, 3.7% of the exemptions are personal and the others are religious.
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