Public Health Advocates Worry Vaccination Science Is Becoming As Politicized As Global Warming
Republicans in state legislatures are pushing back against Democratic measures aimed at tightening vaccination laws. Advocates are concerned that it's a trend that could lead to vaccination requirements to becoming politicized and thus subject to the pitfalls of tribal politics.
Politico:
Republicans Reject Democratic Attempts To Tighten Vaccine Laws
Most Republicans are rejecting Democrat-led state bills to tighten childhood immunization laws in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in two decades, alarming public health experts who fear the nation could become as divided over vaccines as it is over global warming. Democrats in six states — Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Washington, New York and Maine — have authored or co-sponsored bills to make it harder for parents to avoid vaccinating their school-age children, and mostly faced GOP opposition. Meanwhile in West Virginia and Mississippi, states with some of the nation’s strictest vaccination laws, Republican lawmakers have introduced measures to expand vaccine exemptions, although it’s not yet clear how much traction they have. (Allen, 4/16)
Meanwhile, in Kentucky —
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Two Dozen Students Out Of NKY School As They Appeal Chickenpox Ban
Two dozen students at a conservative Roman Catholic school in Boone County who remain out of class and school activities asked the Kentucky Court of Appeals Tuesday to lift a public-health order that is keeping them from school because of a chickenpox outbreak. Lawyers for Jerome Kunkel and at least two dozen other students said in the appeal that the government has violated the students’ First Amendment freedom to practice their religion with overzealous efforts to stop the infectious disease in the community. (Saker, 4/16)
