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California, like all the other states, requires children to be vaccinated before attending school. But the law allows exemptions for reasons of religion or "personal beliefs". The recent measles outbreak is causing some politicians to reconsider this approach. The San Jose Mercury News reports:
Two state senators said Wednesday they will introduce legislation to eliminate a controversial "personal belief exemption" that allows California parents to refuse to vaccinate their children.
"We shouldn't wait for more children to sicken or die before we act," Sen. Richard Pan, a Sacramento Democrat who is also a pediatrician, said at a Wednesday news conference. "Parents are letting us know our current laws are insufficient to protect their kids."
Pan is sponsoring the legislation with Sen. Ben Allen, D-Redondo Beach.
In Washington, D.C., California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, on Wednesday asked state health officials to go further and consider eliminating the "religious exemption."
Further information:
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-measles-vaccination-20150205-story.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/04/health/california-measles-outbreak/
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hoochiecoochieman on Friday February 06 2015, @11:37AM
As in everything else, society is not a black-or-white thing. It's impossible for everyone to agree on everything. States have school curricula that teach what is generally accepted as reasonable by experts and society. It could be wrong, of course, but it takes more than a "belief" to challenge it. It's not a static process, it's dynamic and everyone can have a say on it, unlike the tyrannical monster people usually portray in their whining.
Believing the Earth is flat is completely unfounded. It's not up to debate and definitely not something that fits in a classroom.
All the time in this forum people bitch about school being some evil place where the government indoctrinates children. School could be better, but it's not like the detractors have a better alternative. I guess it's one more of the singularities of the US. If you hate your own society so much just dissolve it, declare the USA extinct and go back to hunter-gatherer lifestyle, where there's no big bad government to indoctrinate kids. Then anyone can teach his children stupidities like the Earth is flat or the Universe is 6000 years old and whatever other "beliefs" someone may have.
If someone thinks that school in Western countries is indoctrinating, they should move to Saudi Arabia and experience the joys of learning according to someone's "beliefs".
When I was in school I had lots of fun going against the established views in my school assignments. But I did it using rational and well-constructed arguments. Most teachers loved being challenged and were very happy when I destroyed their vision of the subject. Others were furious, but anyway just had to give me a good grade. Usually it was my colleagues who hated me for shaking things up, not the teachers. They acquired their sheep mentality at home, not at school.