Maine, the most rural state, to end religious exemptions for vaccines; bill sparks passionate debate on personal freedom - Entrepreneur Generations

Maine, the most rural state in the nation, will soon no longer allow philosophic or religious exemptions from the state's school vaccination requirement. The state Senate failed to pass the measure last week, but Tuesday passed it 18-17, with most Democrats favoring the repeal and most Republicans opposing it.

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, supports the repeal and is expected to sign it into law. If she does, "Maine would be the fourth state – following California, Mississippi and West Virginia – to ban all non-medical exemptions that allow parents to forgo school-required vaccines for their children," Scott Thistle reports for the Portland Press Herald.

The controversial bill comes as measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases are making a major comeback in the United States because of low vaccination rates. "Maine has one of the worst vaccination rates for children entering kindergarten in the nation, and the country’s highest rate of pertussis," commonly called whooping cough, Thistle reports. "In the 2018-19 school year, 5.6 percent of Maine children entering kindergarten had non-medical exemptions for immunizations, state statistics show."

The bill sparked passionate debate on both sides. Opponents of the measure said ending religious and philosophical exemptions wouldn't improve public health and would drive thousands of families away from the state, or prevent religious families from moving to Maine. Many also said it decreased religious freedom and parental rights. But supporters said such exemptions put others' health at risk, such as children who are immunocompromised, Thistle reports.

It's unclear how much ending the exemptions will help increase vaccination rates. In California, vaccination rates increased from 92.8% to 95.1% within two years, but medical exemptions also increased dramatically in regions that once had high rates of philosophical exemptions, suggesting that some parents simply pressed doctors for a different excuse, Thistle reports.

from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2JqjOvI Maine, the most rural state, to end religious exemptions for vaccines; bill sparks passionate debate on personal freedom - Entrepreneur Generations

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