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A Proposal To Make It Harder For Kids To Skip Vaccines Gives Powerful Voices Pause

California lawmakers are debating whether to tighten the rules on childhood vaccinations and give the ultimate say to state public health officials. But questions are emerging from unexpected quarters: the state medical board and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

How Measles Detectives Work To Contain An Outbreak

Across the nation, public health departments are redirecting scarce resources to try to control the spread of measles. Their success relies on shoe-leather detective work that is one of the great untold costs of the measles resurgence.

A Final Comfort: ‘Palliative Transport’ Brings Dying Children Home

In a rare but growing practice, some hospitals offer parents the choice to transport their dying children out of the intensive care unit, with life support in tow, so that they can die at home.

State Bans Pesticide Linked To Developmental Problems

California officials announced a ban on chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that has been linked to lower IQs, lower birth weights and other developmental issues in children, even as the federal government fights to protect it.

On The Border, Volunteer Doctors Struggle To Provide Stopgap Care To Immigrants

As recent arrivals are released from detention with severe medical problems ranging from diarrhea to gaping wounds, a makeshift health system of volunteers is overwhelmed. The work is taking a financial and emotional toll.

Exemptions Surge As Parents And Doctors Do ‘Hail Mary’ Around Vaccine Laws

In California, medical exemptions to skip childhood vaccinations are on the rise. The trend underlines how hard it is to get parents to comply with vaccination laws meant to protect public safety when a small but adamant population of families and physicians seems determined to resist.

Does It Make Sense To Delay Children’s Vaccines?

The renewed squabble over vaccinations obscures a large group of parents who aren’t anti-vaxxers but spread out their children’s vaccines at a more gradual pace than doctors recommend. Pediatricians warn that could leave small children vulnerable to disease.

Why Measles Hits So Hard Within N.Y. Orthodox Jewish Community

More than 275 people — mostly in Orthodox Jewish communities — have been infected since the disease began spreading in October. That’s about half of the confirmed cases in 11 states that were reported nationwide by the federal officials since January 2018.

Detention Centers In California Lack Oversight And Proper Care, Reports Find

Health and safety problems at immigration detention facilities throughout California pose a serious risk to detainees, according to two reports released Tuesday. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and California State Auditor Elaine Howle concluded that federal and local governments are failing to adequately oversee the facilities, allowing the problems to persist.

Vaccine Storage Too Often Fails To Meet Standards

Federal officials regulate the handling of vaccines that are provided through the Vaccines for Children program, which offers the medicines generally for children whose families could not afford them. But there is no federal oversight of how these drugs are stored among other health care providers.