California kids 12 and older are one step closer to being able to get vaccinated without parental consent after a key legislative committee on Thursday despite hundreds of people expressing fierce opposition.
Just five of the introduced this year by a vaccine working group of Democratic lawmakers are still alive 鈥� and state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco鈥檚 proposal to allow kids ages 12 to 17 to receive FDA-approved vaccines without a parent鈥檚 permission is by far the most contentious.
Public comment in the Senate Judiciary Committee鈥檚 was dominated by those who oppose the bill. One woman, who described herself as 鈥渁n ambassador for Jesus Christ,鈥� labeled it 鈥渄emonic.鈥� Others called lawmakers 鈥渄elusional鈥� and 鈥減edophiles,鈥� and one caller told the committee, 鈥淚 hope God forgives you.鈥�
Many callers said they opposed the bill because their kids had been 鈥渧accine-injured.鈥� Maribel Duarte, a single mother of six who attended the hearing in person, spoke tearfully about the worsening health problems her son, who suffers from asthma and a bleeding disorder, began experiencing after he 鈥渇or an exchange of pizza.鈥�
- Duarte: 鈥淚 feel that in that age, they still don鈥檛 have that mentality or rightness to choose if they鈥檙e OK or healthy enough to make that decision.鈥�
The hearing illuminates the increasingly urgent challenges state lawmakers will face as California approaches the new start date of its , which is no earlier than July 2023: How can the state boost low youth vaccination rates while simultaneously building trust in the community 鈥� and supporting families whose kids may experience adverse reactions?
- Wiener: 鈥淣o one argues that vaccine injuries never happen. No one is saying that. And the people who have testified about their kids, that鈥檚 their experience, and I鈥檓 not in any way disputing what they said about their child. 鈥� I imagine that there are rare instances in which the polio vaccine harmed someone, but put that against all the children that would have been debilitated, paralyzed or dead had we not had a mass vaccination campaign for polio.鈥�
- State Sen. Mar铆a Elena Durazo, a Los Angeles Democrat: 鈥淚 think younger people should be empowered to know 鈥� as much as possible about their health care. 鈥� We want them to grow up to be, you know, fully informed adults who can make decisions.鈥�
Republican state Sen. Brian Jones of El Cajon, who said he opposed the bill but wasn鈥檛 in the room when the final vote took place, argued that 鈥渟ome of the arguments on this parental consent breaks down鈥� when one considers that state lawmakers in 2011 to ban minors from using ultraviolet tanning devices.
In other COVID-19 news:
- California is beginning to see a 鈥渟ixth wave鈥� of COVID as positive cases tick up again, .
- Some immunocompromised California State University students and staff feel left behind as the system starts to loosen its COVID safeguards, .
- Supporters of to raise taxes on Californians earning more than $5 million to fund pandemic detection and prevention programs announced Thursday they鈥檝e submitted 1.5 million signatures 鈥� far more than the less than 1 million needed to qualify it for the November ballot.
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