Citing parental freedom, Arizona lawmakers move ahead with anti-vaccine bills

Enlarge / A single dose of MMR (for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) at Kaiser Permanente East Medical offices in Denver. (credit: Getty | Joe Amon)
Lawmakers in Arizona are moving forward with three bills that will make it easier for parents to opt out of getting life-saving vaccinations for their children—and may even encourage them to do so, according to a report in The Arizona Republic.
The brazen legislative move comes as the country grapples with six outbreaks of measles, an extremely contagious, vaccine-preventable disease that can be disabling and even fatal to young children. One of those outbreaks is occurring in Washington state's Clark County, where rampant anti-vaccine views and similarly lax vaccination laws fueled the spread of disease. Since the start of the year, officials have tallied 65 cases, mostly in children under the age of 10 (47 of the 65 cases) and nearly all unvaccinated (57 cases of the 65 cases, with six others cases unverified, and two cases with only one out of the recommended two vaccine doses).
Hoping to prevent future outbreaks, Washington state lawmakers are now advancing legislation that would eliminate vaccination exemptions on personal and philosophical grounds. But Arizona lawmakers seem to have taken no heed of the efforts of their Washington counterparts, even as public health experts condemned Arizona's proposed legislation.
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