Modesto rally: Parents say vaccination bill would discriminate against their kids

A group of parents marched Wednesday in downtown Modesto to protest a state bill that would require vaccinations before children attend school.

The parents said Senate Bill 277 would deny their children’s constitutional right to education and discriminate against families that make personal decisions about vaccinations.

Members of the California Coalition for Health Choice, Central Valley and Sierra chapter, carried signs and spoke outside the office of state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, who supported the bill in a Senate floor vote. About 50 parents accompanied by 25 children attended the rally.

One speaker claimed the legislation was driven by fear-mongering surrounding the Disneyland measles outbreak, which began in December and sickened almost 150 people in different states.

Elizabeth Schuiling of Ripon said her four children are partly vaccinated, but she decided against the shots for chicken pox and hepatitis B. She prefers her kids gain a natural immunity from fighting off chicken pox, and feels there’s no risk of them getting hepatitis B from a family relative, she said.

The bill would prohibit her school-age children from attending school if she did not home-school them, Schuiling said. Home-schooling is not an affordable option for many parents who make their own decisions about vaccinations, she stressed.

The legislation would eliminate a personal-belief exemption that has allowed some parents to keep their children in public or private schools, even though they lack vaccinations. Advocates for SB 277 including the California Medical Association say it would keep schoolchildren safe from once-feared diseases such as polio and measles.

They cite studies that validated the safety of childhood immunizations and found no connection with disorders such as autism.

Galgiani said Wednesday afternoon her job is to protect public health. Before her career in politics, Galgiani worked as a physical therapist at Stockton’s Dameron Hospital and was exposed to tuberculosis while working closely with a stroke patient, she said.

The patient was placed in quarantine at San Joaquin General Hospital and for several weeks Galgiani was fearful before testing negative for TB.

“No matter how well you plan to protect your kids from being exposed to different diseases, there could always be that accidental exposure,” Galgiani said. “If we don’t have a high enough percentage of the community that is vaccinated, the vaccines that are given won’t protect the community.”

Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, was among the 25 senators who supported the bill May 14, while 11 were opposed. Sen. Tom Berryhill, R-Twain Harte, did not vote.

Felicia Cortez of Modesto said the bill would force her to home-school her three children, age 5 to 12. She said her 11-year-old son, who has autism, received the routine immunizations until he was 15 months, and then no more. She said her 5-year-old has not been vaccinated and her fully vaccinated 12-year-old would need updates to attend school under the proposed law.

Cortez said contagious illness is less a concern for her than the chance her kids will suffer serious side effects from vaccines.

This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Modesto rally: Parents say vaccination bill would discriminate against their kids."