The Fronts Where California’s Vaccination Laws Have Failed
A study that does not take into effect the tighter regulations passed in 2016 finds that California's legislative reaction to the 2014 measles outbreak did not successfully address localized clusters of unvaccinated students, nor the rates for children attending private schools.
PBS NewsHour:
What’s Happened Since California Let Fewer Families Reject Vaccines
A California law that aims to limit the number of people who can refuse vaccines has led to a slight improvement in kindergartners’ vaccination rate in recent years, according to a new study in Health Affairs. But the law was not as effective in private schools, and did little to break up localized clusters of children who opted out of vaccines. It’s these local clusters of vaccinations that put a specific community or school at the greatest risk, according to the study, which linked large measles outbreaks across the United States to “declining population vaccination and to voluntary abstention from measles vaccine.” (Santhanam, 9/5)