Newly Proposed Childhood Vaccine Mandates: Public Health Officer Dr. Hartmann Responds

Thursday, 05 July 2007 00:10

Newly Proposed Childhood Vaccine Mandates: Public Health Officer Dr. Hartmann Responds

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A bill that would remove the power from the California State Legislature to approve new childhood vaccine mandates and hand it over to state public health officials appears to be gaining ground in the capitol. The bill, AB 16, would require that all new vaccines recommended by the Center for Disease Control for children would be automatically mandated in California five years later. Citizens would not be able to speak through their elected representatives and stop a new vaccine mandate, such as the Human Papillomavirus vaccine, or stop any other new vaccine recommended by the CDC from being mandated.

Opponents state that AB 16 removes the medical exemption, religious exemption and philosophical exemption to the vaccination of children currently provided for in law, and replaces it with a parental "belief" exemption which has no constitutional or legal defense if it is eliminated in the future. Removal of medical exemption implies there are no medical reasons to exempt a child from the series of treatments and leaves doctors as enforcers of government policy without any moral or legal responsibility for preventing vaccine injuries and deaths. Proponents of the bill, including the California Medical Association, state that the current way that the determination of what immunizations will be required of children is a mess. They argue that the bill will allow for decisions to be made based on science and what's best for the public health. Two other bills, SB 676 by Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, would mandate whooping cough booster shots, and SB 533 by Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would require pneumococcus vaccine for children entering preschool, are also pending at the capitol. According to Amador County Public Health Officer Bob Hartmann-

Pneumococcus(pnemo) infections are very dangerous infections for children and adults and, he adds, the vaccine is very effective. Dr. Hartmann emphasizes that it is the same situation for the whooping cough vaccine- an effective vaccine for a dangerous infection. Hartman states that given the fact that there has been a 500 percent increase in whooping cough cases in California, alone, in the last decade, booster vaccinations for children and adults are warranted. “Both vaccines are very effective and although there are numerous vaccinations already required by law,” Hartmann states “I think they are in the best interest of public health.” Hartmann differentiates the Human Papillomavirus vaccine stating that it is a break through vaccine because it is the first vaccine that prevents cancer. Hartmann states that there is the potential for major health implications in US with the discovery of this vaccine but it, the vaccine, has been tied up in a political mess- mandating the shot now- takes away from the issue that the vaccine is good and that young women should get it. Hartman adds that “We should concentrate on getting that message out to health care providers, parents and young women, instead of politicizing the issue.”