CARLSBAD — Dozens of vaccine opponents filled the community room at Calavera Hills Community Park Tuesday night to learn more about recent California laws regarding vaccines.
Earlier this month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 277 into law, which eliminated parent’s options of using personal or religious beliefs as a reason to avoid getting their child vaccinated.
Starting July 2016, children can only use an exemption for a medical condition.
Organizers of the event Thursday admitted the issue is “emotionally charged.”
“This is an emotionally charged subject. I don’t care where on the spectrum you fall, said the organizer’s Public Outreach Coordinator Heather Hawkes. “There is no person that you can engage in a discussion about vaccines who is indifferent,” she said.
While the majority of attendees are against vaccinations, speakers said they believe it’s a fundamental human rights issue.
“I found out about the bill about three months ago. My life changed because all of a sudden I realized the state wants to get between a parent and a child,” said organizer Summer Boger.
Starting next July, parents will need to have their child fully vaccinated to attend public or private school.
The child’s vaccination will be checked in Kindergarten and again in seventh grade.
If a student is past the seventh grade, past exemptions will remain in tact and the child will not be required to receive the vaccination schedule.
Gov. Brown signed the law into effect because he views it as a safety precaution.
“The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases. While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the community,” Brown said in a written statement.
On Tuesday, speakers discussed options to “work the law,” said Boger.
The discussions included pointers for receiving a medical exemption against vaccines, which require approval from a doctor.
A parent who homeschools his child in Orange County spoke about his reasons for teaching his 5-year-old at home.
He said he fears disease outbreaks, school shootings, forced vaccinations and the Common Core standards, which are being implemented in most states throughout the nation.
He offered tips and discussed problems with beginning homeschooling.
Two local chiropractors also spoke at the meeting, to discuss other bills that are in the works and what steps parents could take to avoid getting their child vaccinated.
Dr. Tyson Perez spoke about State Bill 792, which requires daycare professionals and preschool teachers to get their full vaccination requirements.
The speakers on Tuesday night represent a minority in Carlsbad.
On average, 89 percent of Carlsbad Kindergardeners at public and private schools have been vaccinated for the measles, according to the California Department of Public Health.
This isn’t the first time Carlsbad is drawing attention to the vaccine debate.
In 2013, students from Carlsbad High School’s broadcast journalism program made a film called “Invisible Threat.”
The movie took a pro-vaccine stance and controversy began as word spread of the student project.
Before the film was finished, CHSTV began receiving threatening phone calls and comments on the Internet.
Their efforts drew national attention from media outlets including Forbes and The Los Angeles Times.
Nearby communities are also taking a stance on vaccinations.
The Encinitas Union School District has the county’s highest non-medical exemption rate, with about 12 percent of EUSD students claiming exemptions.
Statewide, 2.5 percent of students claim non-medical exemptions.
This story has been updated.
6 comments
Well . . . if you truly believe in the efficacy of vaccines, then you shouldn’t worry about children in your child’s school that have not had all the (soon to be) required shots – since your child would be 100% immune from disease. But that is not the case. Vaccines are dangerous, but are not 100% effective.
In intelligent and forward-thinking communities, such as Encinitas and Malibu, Exemption rates are much higher than 2 1/2 percent. Plus, if the rest of the parents had an open mind to look at the real science (and not the bunk that is sold to you), and the correlations, then the number of exemptions would be much higher.
Don’t allow yourself to be a pawn of Big Pharma, don’t allow your child to be a guinea pig,
most of all, keep your nose out of other people’s business.
This is just the beginning of a terrible tyranny that will permanently endanger and degrade
immune systems. People put too much faith doctors. Please remember, Josef Mengele was a Physician too! This is no different!
I’m sorry to see the news giving publicity to groups who are trying to break the law with what sounds like fraudulent or unethical medical practices. The reporter should be characterizing these groups not as concerned parents, but rather as parents who are willing to endanger everyone else’s children to “protect” their own children from the imagined dangers of vaccination. There is no real controversy over vaccination: it is safe and effective.
Any parent who is against vaccination should take a tour of an old cemetery. I recently spotted a headstone that listed the deaths of the Duff Family in Auckland, New Zealand. All five children, Hannah (18 months), Agnes (8 years old), Margaret (10 years old), John (11 years old), and Edith (6 years old) died between December 21, 1876 and January 1, 1877.
How many of the anti-vaccination parents have had a child die? Probably very few indeed, thanks to vaccination and modern medicine. My own brother contracted polio about two years before the Salk vaccine was invented. These anti-vaccination parents need to educate themselves about the about the true consequences of their actions: death, disfigurement and disability. The only reason they’re against vaccination is because vaccination works and they’ve never had to see their own child’s smallpox-scarred face, or their brother facing life in a wheelchair.
Parents have every right to make decisions about their children’s health. However, they do not have the right to make decisions that could affect the health of every other child in school. If you don’t want to vaccinate your child, fine, but you can’t put my child at risk because of your unwillingness to comply with this law. California has had the most lax vaccine requirements in the country and now we are paying the price. Eradicated diseases are recurring because of parents who are caught up in their pseudo-science and mass media hysteria.
Vaccinate your kids. It’s not just for your children, it’s for all the children in your community.
Vaccination is a topic where logic simply flies out of the window. One size fits all penicillin would be considered ludicrous, but one size fits all vaccination is accepted?
Its sad to witness that in the 21st century people can be so easily manipulated by the MSM, so much that simply researching the truth is a heavy burden.
To add insult to injury, most people think that this “anti-vaxx” movement is recent and started by “new age hippies”. Absolutely false. This war has been raging on for over 200 years. Vaccines can and do cause permanent damage. The evidence can easily found on CDC’s website and the warnings are clearly listed on the vaccine package inserts themselves. However, the argument is constantly repeated “Vaccines are safe and effective”. That statement is a slap in the face to parents of damaged children. Those who concede the risk always come back with the nebulous argument that the “risk is minimal” or “one in a million”. This is also false. Its like claiming that the risk of a severe reaction to penicillin is minimal. For who?
If you want to vaccinate, do so and leave those who choose not to alone. Vaccine-induced herd immunity is a myth and has been debunked repeatedly.
Finally, quite often the vaccines themselves cause the illness in the host that it was meant to fight. It also can be passed on to others during the shedding period. This too can be found on the vaccine insert.
Great point Mandy, thanks for pointing that out. I’ve updated the story.
The press is the only outlet that thinks that people are ‘divided’ on this. It’s a tiny 2.5% or less who don’t want to protect other children by having their own children vaccinated. The VAST majority of people support mandatory vaccination.
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