Editorial: State Must Review Vaccine Exemption Provision
California offers exemptions for children's vaccinations if parents declare that it "is contrary to their personal beliefs," a Los Angeles Times editorial states. "[I]f those children get sick, they put many others at risk, including those who cannot be immunized for medical reasons, who don't respond to vaccines or who aren't old enough to be inoculated," the editorial adds. The Times continues that "[p]ublic health depends on 'herd immunity' -- the inoculation of enough people to keep a disease from the larger community." Therefore, California "should be re-examining the personal belief exemption" because it "should not be so easy for relatively few people to jeopardize the health of many others."
- "The Anti-Vaccination Peril" (Los Angeles Times, 8/16).