Legislation to Eliminate Vaccine Exemptions Skyrockets in 2019

In the past year, proposed legislation requiring vaccines for all children has skyrocketed. As of February 2019, over 100 bills were proposed across 30 states to amend vaccine requirements and rights. Through these bills, state and federal government seek to eliminate religious and philosophical exemptions, and limit medical exemptions.

On a Federal level, Representative Frederica Wilson (Democrat) of Florida’s 24^th Congressional District introduced H.R. 2527 “Vaccinate All Children Act of 2019” on May 3, 2019. This bill proposes to “amend the Public Health Service Act to condition receipt by States (and political subdivisions and public entities of States) of preventive health services grants on the establishment of a State requirement for students in public elementary and secondary schools to be vaccinated in accordance with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and for other purposes.” This act does not provide for any religious or philosophical vaccines exemptions. A child with a medical exemption must provide written certification annually, in which the physician must “demonstrat[e] (to the satisfaction of the individual in charge of the health program at the student’s school) that the physician’s opinion conforms to the accepted standard of medical care.” There is no further explanation provided as to what constitutes a medical exemption the in the bill.

The conditions in a recipient that may warrant a medical exemption are referred to as “contraindications”. The CDC also recognizes “precautions” that should be taken and result in the delay of some vaccines. Unfortunately, these contraindications and precautions are often viewed as “temporary”, or are only present after an individual or immediate relative has already had an adverse reaction to a vaccine. For example, the CDC does not recommend vaccinating children with the MMR vaccine to “severely immunocompromised persons”. In another example, only after a child has suffered encephalopathy (i.e. brain injury) after receiving a pertussis vaccine does the CDC advise against the child receiving another dose of the vaccine. In many cases, for these children the damage is already done. It is common for children to experience less severe symptoms, such as fevers, from the first dose of vaccine, only to be forced to receive additional doses. The compounding affect can cause more severe injuries, immune deficiency disorders, and irreversible damage. This is why medical exemptions are often insufficient to protect children.

With the recently widely publicized “measles outbreak” in 2019 causing hysteria across the country, several new states have proposed amendments to their vaccine laws to eliminate exemptions. In May, Maine removed all philosophical and religious exemptions. Last month, New York, with a predominantly Orthodox Jewish community, passed Senate Bill S2994A eliminating the religious exemption. California, Mississippi and West Virginia already eliminated religious exemptions in previous years.  On the other hand, a vaccine bill in Oregon, HB 3063, which proposed to eliminate a parents’ ability to decline vaccines based on religious, philosophical, or any other non-medical reasons, was squashed in May 2019.

In 2015, California passed Senate Bill 277, which eliminated a parents’ ability to opt out of mandate vaccinations for their kids based on personal beliefs. This was passed after 39 people of the 16 million (or approximately 44,000 daily) that visit DisneyLand annually acquired the measles. However, California still allowed for permanent or temporary medical exemptions from a doctor, which are generally granted to children with immune systems disorders. Now, with another measles “outbreak”, Senate Bill 276 is pending, which would require medical exemptions to be reviewed by the state and sanction doctors who improperly issue medical exemptions.

We expect that, legislation eliminating a parent and medical provider’s ability to decline vaccines on behalf of their children and patients, that we could see a rise in vaccine injuries.  Children will either be required to meet the vaccine schedules imposed by their states to enter school and child care, or they will have to be home schooled, which is not an option for most families. If your child is injured by a vaccine, you may be able to recover monetary damages and medical expenses for existing and future medical costs through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The program has paid over $4.1 billion to victims as of June 2019 and has already seen an exponential increase in cases filed. Because your attorney’s fees are paid through the NVICP trust, you will receive this compensation free and clear. Contact Deanna LaPage at Stoltmann Law Offices to provide you with a free evaluation.