After failing in a similar attempt last year, the legislature gave final approval Saturday to a bill aimed at improving Colorado’s worst-in-the-nation childhood vaccination rates.
As soon as Gov. Jared Polis signs the bill — he has said he would — it will become law. Lawmakers considered writing a provision into the bill that would allow opponents to petition for a repeal measure on the ballot, which might have delayed the bill’s implementation, but they decided against that Saturday.
The bill preserves the rights of parents to receive exemptions for public school students, but it requires them to either obtain a note from a doctor stating there is a medical reason, or, in the case of parents who have religious or ideological reservations, take an online education course about vaccine science. Parents who home-school their children will still be able to get exemptions simply by writing notes to their local school districts.
This standards in the bill are slightly tougher than the current ones. Parents here have been able to exempt their children from vaccination simply by putting a statement of exemption into writing and handing it to school administration.
Under the bill, schools will also have to release annual reports to parents detailing vaccination and exemption rates among their student bodies. The state will maintain a database with exemption information.
Polling indicates an overwhelming majority of Coloradans recognize the benefits of vaccines. But within the legislature it’s been one of the most heated proposed laws of the past two years. Anti-vaccination is not a purely Republican issue — in fact, deep-blue Boulder is one of the country’s hotbeds of unvaccinated children — but GOP lawmakers here were united against the bill. Just one Republican, state Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, supported the bill.
Crowds of vaccine opponents have flooded the Capitol on many occasions since January, and last weekend more than a thousand rallied outside the state Capitol for a last-ditch effort to pressure lawmakers to reject the proposal.
That this bill is only being passed now is because Polis, a Democrat, opposed a similar bill last session. He said he felt it was unfair to force parents to submit exemption forms in person at state offices. He declared himself “pro-choice” on vaccines and did not directly answer when a Denver Post reporter asked him a few weeks ago whether he maintains that stance.
Having reached the finish line of a dramatic, multi-year slog to pass a new policy, pro-vaccine lawmakers were clearly relieved Saturday.
“Rest assured, as far as I’m concerned, I’m not planning on bringing any more vaccination bills in the coming four years,” Priola, a sponsor of the bill, said to laughs from his colleagues.
“A lot of hard work has gone into this,” said state Rep. Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, an emergency room nurse who led the charge for this bill, as well as last year’s version.
"low" - Google News
June 14, 2020 at 07:40AM
https://ift.tt/30Rfn59
Colorado passes bill to improve low vaccine rates - The Denver Post
"low" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z1WHDx
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Colorado passes bill to improve low vaccine rates - The Denver Post"
Post a Comment