Source: CNN
Across the country, counties are reporting measles cases: at least 206 in 11 states, per the latest count. On social media, platforms such as Facebook and YouTube are facing pressure to crack down on conspiracy theories and misinformation about vaccines. And on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are discussing what they’re calling “a growing public health threat.”
But in state after state, legislators are introducing bills that make it easier for people to opt out of vaccinations. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, at least 20 states have introduced bills this year that would:
- Broaden the reasons why parents can exempt kids from getting vaccines even if there isn’t a medical need.
- Require doctors to provide more information on the risks of vaccines.
“The volume of legislative activity is greater than in past years,” the organization said. “But averse bills outnumbering supportive ones conforms with trends from prior years.”
Why is this happening, especially when the science is clear that outbreaks are more likely when vaccination coverage drops below 95%? And when the record — according to the American Academy of Pediatrics — shows that no state has passed legislation expanding non-medical exemptions for vaccinations since 2003?
Vaccine Skeptics Cite Several Reasons
The World Health Organization says vaccination “is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease” and prevents 2 million to 3 million deaths a year.
Even so, the myth that vaccines cause autism and other diseases has persisted. Such claims have frightened parents into refusing to vaccinate, public health experts say, despite decades of medical science showing vaccines to be both safe and a widely successful method of disease prevention.
Anti-vaxers cite several other reasons as well: a distrust of government and pharmaceutical companies, in some cases; individual rights and religious freedoms, in others.
A study published last year on the state of the anti-vaccine movement in the United States showed that over the previous nine years, the number of people claiming vaccine exemptions for “philosophical belief” had gone up in 12 of the 18 states allowing such exemptions.
Also, the percentage of children who did not receive any vaccination by age 2 has risen from 0.9% for children born in 2011 to 1.3% for children born in 2015, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a 2018 study.
On a legislative level, the number of bills introduced that seek to weaken immunization programs has, on average, risen as well. In 2015, 13 bills were introduced. The next year, it rose to 15. The year after, to 19.
“They think they’re doing the right thing,” Dr. Sean O’Leary, a Colorado pediatrician who studies infectious diseases and vaccines, said of parents who don’t vaccinate their children. “The problem is, they’re basing their beliefs on misinformation and pseudoscience.”
Read the full article here: https://us.cnn.com/2019/03/06/health/vaccine-exemption-bills-across-us-trnd/index.html
