California passed a new vaccine law, SB 277, in 2015.
With the passage of SB 277, California joined Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states that do not allow either religious or personal belief vaccine exemptions.
A few other states passed new vaccine laws of their own in the following years.
Despite what anti-vaccine folks might think, not one of the new laws means that anyone is forcing kids to get vaccinated though.
New Vaccine Bills and Laws in 2019
The idea of vaccine mandates is a big issue as we continue to see outbreaks of measles around the world.
New vaccine laws being proposed across the United States include:
- House Bill 2505 in Arizona will change their non-medical exemptions from personal to religious
- Senate Bill 1201 in Arizona will require schools to post immunization rates on their websites
- House Bill 7005 in Connecticut would permit ordained, commissioned and licensed members of the clergy to acknowledge parental statements concerning religious objections to vaccinations required for enrollment in public and nonpublic schools, instead of school nurses.
- Senate Bill 354 in Florida updates their immunization registry
- Senate Bill 1659 in Illinois adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive before starting 6th grade
- HF 206 in Iowa eliminates the religious vaccine exemption.
- Senate Bill 133 in Kentucky adds vaccine requirements for college students
- Legislative Document 798 has been sent to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs in Maine and would remove non-medical vaccine exemptions
- SD 1520 in Massachusetts adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive
- Assembly Bill 3818 in New Jersey clarifies the religious exemption to vaccination, so that a general philosophical or moral objection to getting vaccinated will no longer count as a true religious exemption
- Senate Bill 298 in New York adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive
- Senate Bill 925 in Oklahoma requires school districts to report exemption rates
- House Bill 2783 in Oregon requires parents to submit a form signed by a health care practitioner if they are not going to vaccinate their kids and a signed certificate verifying that they completed a vaccine educational module
- Senate Bill 329 in Texas simply requires schools to post how many kids are claiming vaccine exemptions
- House Bill 238 in Vermont eliminates religious exemptions
- House Bill 1638 has already passed a Health Care and Wellness Committee in Washington and will remove personal or philosophical exemptions for the MMR vaccine
- Senate Bill 5841 in Washington will remove personal or philosophical exemptions for all vaccines
It’s easy to navigate the new laws.
Get educated and get your kids vaccinated. Vaccines are safe, with few risks, vaccines work, and vaccines are necessary.
Be a vaccine advocate and make sure your state legislators know that you support strong vaccine laws that will keep us all protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, as more and more folks try and abuse vaccine exemptions.
What To Know About Vaccine Mandate Laws
Vaccine mandate laws are expanding as we are seeing more outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.
More Information on Vaccine Mandate Laws:
- VAXOPEDIA – How to Become a Vaccine Advocate
- VAXOPEDIA – How Are Australia’s New Vaccine Laws Working?
- VAXOPEDIA – Did Trump Lay the Groundwork to Ban Mandatory Vaccinations?
- VAXOPEDIA – Vaccines and Social Media
- VAXOPEDIA – How Pediatricians Should Talk to Vaccine Hesitant Parents
- VAXOPEDIA – The Moral Responsibility of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Do We Only Worry About Measles?
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Are We Worried About 60,000 Unvaccinated Kids?
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Are We Having Measles Outbreaks If MMR Vaccination Rates Are Not Declining?
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Are You Still Worried About the MMR Vaccine?
- VAXOPEDIA – Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times
- AAP – State Advocacy Focus
- Immunizations Policy Issues Overview
- Forced Vaccination vs Vaccine Choice
- School Exemption Laws by State
- Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws
- Report – Mandatory vaccinations: The international landscape
- Report – The Latest in Vaccine Policies: Selected Issues in School Vaccinations, Healthcare Worker Vaccinations, and Pharmacist Vaccination Authority Laws.
- Exemption Abuse – Too many kindergarteners aren’t getting vaccinated.
- The problem of nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates
- Tips on Effective State Legislative Advocacy
- How a Bill Becomes a Law at the State Level
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