[JURIST] The California State Assembly [official website] on Thursday passed legislation [SB277] requiring schoolchildren to be vaccinated unless there is a medical reason not to do so. The measure ends exemptions among parents opposed to vaccination due to personal or religious reasons. California is now the largest state to mandate vaccination [AP report], joining Mississippi and West Virginia which have had similar laws for a number of years. Despite strong evidence that vaccines are necessary for public health, the number of unvaccinated children in California has been rising because exemptions on personal or religious grounds have been easy to obtain. The debate over vaccines has been a highly emotional one, with hundreds of families offering personal testimony to lawmakers at the State Capitol. Opponents of the bill argue that mandating vaccinations is against parental rights, while proponents argue that requiring vaccinations is a public health issue [JURIST report]. Under the bill, parents who decline to have their children vaccinated for non-medical reasons will have to home-school their children. The bill must still be approved by the state senate and signed by the governor before becoming law.

Childhood vaccination and the potential harm of vaccination to children has been a topic of debate in America in recent years. Much of the vaccination debate revolves around the alleged link between certain vaccines and autism. In January a federal appeals court upheld [JURIST report] a New York state rule barring unimmunized children from public schools. In May 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that even for an untimely petition filed under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, a petitioner may recover attorney’s fees as long as the claim was filed in good faith and there is a reasonable basis. In February 2011 the US Supreme Court ruled that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 provides blanket immunity [JURIST report] to vaccine manufacturers from all tort actions filed in state or federal court alleging design defects. The decision was consistent with 18 major scientific studies [JURIST op-ed], which have failed to show a link between vaccines and the widely-diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder. In August 2010 the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision finding insufficient evidence [JURIST report] to link childhood vaccines and autism in three cases.