California ends personal belief, religious exemptions for vaccinating school children
The California Assembly has passed Senate Bill 277, which would require school children to be fully vaccinated by ending exemptions based on personal belief or religion. Unvaccinated children will be required to be taught at home or enrolled in a private homeschooling group. The bill passed 25-10 in the Senate in May, and was passed by a smaller margin of 46-30 today in the Assembly. The bill will go next to the Senate for a vote on amendments added by the Assembly before it lands on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk for a decision.
A measles outbreak that was traced to Disneyland sickened more than 100 people and was the impetus for the bill.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Peter Doig: House of Music – an ‘eccentric and entrancing’ showThe Week Recommends The artist combines his ‘twin passions’ of music and painting at the Serpentine Gallery
-
Dead Man Walking: searing contemporary opera is a ‘triumph’The Week Recommends Death row drama ‘deals with the very essence of morality, judgement and conscience’
-
Kenny Dalglish: a ‘warm and gusty’ documentaryThe Week Recommends A riveting portrait of a Liverpool FC legend
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
