PD Editorial: Newsom’s waffling puts public health at risk

Gov. Gavin Newsom's shifting positions on childhood vaccinations are difficult to comprehend.

Newsom knows that vaccines are scientifically proven to be a safe and effective defense against measles, mumps, whooping cough and other contagious diseases. Indeed, he says his own children are fully immunized.

Yet the governor keeps creating uncertainty about important legislation to limit medical exemptions to those children with a legitimate medical excuse.

Newsom raised some objections earlier this summer, and met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaxxer, before promising to sign Senate Bill 276 after it was watered down a little. Two days ago, as the bill was coming up for final consideration in the Legislature, the governor offered some new reservations

On Friday afternoon, Newsom was back on board, announcing a deal with state Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician who has preserved through angry demonstrations, recall threats, death threats and gubernatorial cold feet to tighten California's vaccination law.

So the drama is finally over, right? We hope so. But the agreement requires state lawmakers to draft and pass a second bill before Newsom signs SB 276, which already is on its way to his desk. That could take another week, and opponents already aren't going to give up.

Childhood vaccinations allowed the United States to control, and even eradicate, polio and other infectious diseases that used to be common. Unfortunately, vaccination rates declined with the rise of paranoia driven by conspiracy theories and junk science, predictably followed by the return of measles and other infectious diseases.

The defense is herd immunity. If enough people are vaccinated - typically around 95% of the population - infections are unable to spread. Even those who cannot be vaccinated are protected if vaccination rates remain high.

California eliminated a widely abused “personal belief” exemption following a 2014-15 measles outbreak traced to Disneyland that spread to six states, Canada and Mexico. Pan sponsored that bill, too, and health experts credit it with limiting the scope of subsequent outbreaks. California, for example, has had 67 cases of measles this year versus 654 in New York, where exemptions are easier to obtain.

But the number of people seeking medical exemptions skyrocketed after Pan's bill passed. Just as people found plenty of doctors willing to provide medical marijuana recommendations with few questions asked, they are finding physicians who do the same with medical exemptions for vaccinations otherwise required of all children entering school.

As originally drafted, Senate Bill 276 required the state health department to review all medical exemptions to ensure that they complied with federal guidelines. The idea is to crack down on unscrupulous doctors who sign dubious waivers without interfering with the small percentage of children who truly need medical exemptions.

In June, when Newsom first expressed reservations, Pan, D-Sacramento, scaled back his bill to allow state health officials to investigate doctors who granted five or more exemptions in a year and school with immunization rates below 95%.

Newsom now wants to eliminate a requirement that physicians sign medical waivers under the penalty of perjury and grandfather in exemptions granted before Jan. 1, 2020. Pan agreed, but the new bill also will invalidate existing medical exemptions signed by physicians who have faced disciplinary action by the state medical board and require children to seek new waivers when they reach seventh grade or if they change schools.

Vaccinations were one of the great advances of the 20th century, eradicating potentially deadly diseases that terrified parents. Don't let unfounded fears bring them back.

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