By Sheila V. Kumar and Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press and
Peninsula Daily News staff
Legislative efforts to increase pressure on parents to get their children vaccinated have failed in Washington and Oregon amid stiff opposition.
A handful of other statehouses are considering similar bills prompted by a measles outbreak in several states.
Four cases of measles were confirmed in Clallam County, with the last one diagnosed in late February. Jefferson County had no confirmed cases.
An effort to remove personal or philosophical opposition to vaccines as an authorized exemption from childhood school immunizations died in the Washington state House on Wednesday after failing to come up for a vote before a key deadline.
Religious and medical exemptions would have remained under that bill.
Rep. June Robinson, who had sponsored the bill, said she didn’t have the votes she needed.
The Democrat from Everett said the pushback from parents and others opposed to the change had an effect on some lawmakers.
“There was a very loud outcry, much of which was filled with false information,” she said.
In both Washington state and Oregon, the measures drew heated testimony from parents who argued it took away their medical freedom and right to informed consent.
Dozens of parents who showed up at a hearing in Washington also said the measure would take away their rights to make decisions for their children.
A similar measure in Oregon would have made the state the third in the country allowing exemptions from immunizations only for medical reasons.
Mississippi and West Virginia are the only other states that have comparable laws in place.
The Oregon bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward of Portland, said opposition largely revolved around who was right or wrong about the benefits of vaccines and that she has decided not to pursue the legislation.
“She strongly believes that making personal choices such as whether or not to vaccinate children are largely a matter of privacy, but — as with all matters of personal choice — we have to be certain that our choices don’t impinge on our neighbors’ health and well-being,” said Paige Spence, Steiner Hayward’s chief of staff.
Several other states have been considering similar bills eliminating personal and philosophical exemptions to vaccinations as dozens of people across the country fell ill from measles.
Most of the outbreaks started at Disneyland in December, although the Clallam County cases were of a different genotype, one common in Asia and the Philippines, public health officials said.
Three other cases were reported in Washington state — two in Grays Harbor County and one in Whatcom County.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of Atlanta, of the 173 people in 17 states reported to have caught measles, 127 cases were linked to the Disneyland outbreak.
In February, three California lawmakers introduced legislation that would require parents to vaccinate their children before they enter school unless they can’t for medical reasons.
That bill has yet to come up before a committee, though Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has suggested he’ll support it.
In Vermont, which is in the top three states for people taking an exemption, a group of lawmakers announced plans last month to introduce legislation eliminating the philosophical exemptions for parents who don’t want their kids immunized, though a similar effort failed three years ago.
In Maine, two bills, one removing philosophical exemptions and one that aims to make it harder for parents to get that exemption, are awaiting a public hearing.
