Your right to vaccine exemptions is under attack in many states, from Texas to California, with lawmakers increasingly pushing for mandatory vaccination in the name of public health. 

The issue came to a head in 2015, when a measles outbreak that started at Disneyland ignited near hysteria about the number of unvaccinated children in the state of California.

The source of the initial Disney theme park exposure was never identified, yet it was assumed that the measles outbreak (which amounted to a total of only 125 cases, zero deaths and only 17 hospitalizations) was the fault of unvaccinated residents.

Yet, even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated, “Annual attendance at Disney theme parks in California is estimated at 24 million, including many international visitors from countries where measles is endemic.”¹

All but One California Vaccine Exemptions Taken Away

Theoretically, if vaccines work as intended then people who are vaccinated should have little risk of contracting measles during an outbreak.

But rather than focus on why some vaccinated individuals still ended up with measles (the vaccines do not always work for a number of reasons), the media and regulators launched efforts to take away residents’ right to vaccine choice.

That year, California quickly went from a state that protected vaccine choice to one with one of the strictest vaccine policies in the U.S. California is now only 1 of 3 states in the U.S. that will only allow a medical vaccine exemption written by a doctor, for which the vast majority of children do not qualify under strict federal guidelines.

Unless you can find a medical doctor to write your child a medical exemption, your child cannot go to day care or attend public or private schools in California without getting multiple doses of nine or 10 state-mandated vaccines (polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, haemophilus influenza B [or day care], hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella and varicella zoster [chickenpox]).

If you refuse even one federally recommended dose of those vaccines, you are forced to homeschool your child. Further, not only Californians’ rights were affected by the measles outbreak. Barbara Loe Fisher, president and co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), said:

“One hundred vaccine-related bills were introduced in this country in January and February of 2015 as a result of this mass hysteria about measles' cases associated with Disneyland. In Texas, 20 bills were introduced. In 11 states, the personal belief exemption was attacked for removal.”

Vaccine Exemptions Threatened in Texas

Texas is one of 18 states that allow philosophical exemptions to vaccines, but that may soon change. The number of kindergarten through 12th grade students in Texas who reported filing philosophical exemptions for at least one vaccination during the last school year increased 19-fold since 2003.²

This still only amounts to less than 1 percent of enrolled students, but Texas lawmakers have filed bills aimed at lowering the number of children who are exempted from vaccinations for non-medical reasons. As reported by American-Statesman:³

“[State Rep. Donna] Howard has filed bills to be considered next year that would require students to opt-out of the state’s immunization registry called ImmTrac rather than opt-in and physicians to counsel parents on vaccinations before they obtain an exemption.”

A similar bill filed last year did not move forward, and some, including the Home School Legal Defense Association, expressed concerns that such bills could harm parental rights.

It remains to be seen whether the bills will move forward next year, but, one by one, more vaccine exemptions are being removed while society moves in favor of mandatory vaccinations using a flawed, and sometimes fatal, one-size-fits-all schedule.