Fraudulent Medical Exemptions For Vaccines Banned In California: Community Health Rightfully Prioritized

Imagine being a seven year old that had a heart transplant and is living a precarious life not having the ability to get vaccinated against diseases. She depends on people like us around her to be vaccinated. Yes, I’m talking about children like Brooke Balck who are living in California and go to public schools where vaccination rates are dropping at dangerous levels in the last four years.

Sadly, the vaccination rates are dropping due to the rise of medical exemptions for vaccinations. This wave of medical exemptions is based on of anti-vaccine physicians giving out inappropriate medical exemptions to families who want personal belief exemptions, latter no longer allowed in California since the passing of SB 276 in 2015 as a counter measure after the deadly measles outbreak in Disney theme parks. These doctors, though few in number, can lead to serious harm in communities, where their practices can cause outbreaks of lethal, vaccine-preventable diseases.

These fraudulent exemptions have led to vaccination rates dangerously decreasing in Californian kindergartens per data from Shots for School that collects and reports immunization compliance from schools in California.

We need at least 95% of us vaccinated in a school to provide herd immunity to those who legitimately cannot take vaccines, and a few months ago in September 2019, amidst a lot of polarized conversations and heated protests, SB 276 was passed which allows State Public Health officials to rightfully scrutinize the medical exemptions made by doctors.

There was a lot of debate about why the state needs to be involved, and why the California Medical Board couldn’t just go after the bad doctors. Some parents were also upset that state stepping in between doctor-patient relationship is a slippery slope. Assaults were also made on Dr. Richard Pan, California Senator and the author of both the bills. On one hand, we have a passionate parent advocacy group, Vaccinate California, fully supporting Dr. Richard Pan and the bill, while there were others, albeit a minority, who were vehemently opposing the bill.

I believe SB276 will create a safer environment in schools because the regulation of exemptions will restore vaccines rates to above 95%, the minimum of herd immunity to take effect and combat the anti-vaccine doctors. It is unfortunate that the state has had to take stern measures and prioritize public safety amidst concerns of government overriding individual rights and stepping in between doctor-patient relationship. However, I do believe the families that do not choose to vaccinate still have the choice of homeschooling until they are convinced on the efficacy of vaccines. I believe in our democratic process and we must support both points of view, come together for discussions and develop solutions jointly. Sometimes we will need to compromise. When the health of the community at large is at risk with proven scientific evidence of deadly outbreaks for preventable diseases, we will need to compromise as individuals for the greater good. As a reminder to all of us, please take note of the data from CDC that shows measles is indeed on the rise and we are not out of the woods yet.