A new study by researchers for The Lancet medical journal identifies San Diego County as the 25th-most likely county in the U.S. to have a measles outbreak this year. This concern is reinforced by a state report that showed just 92.5% of San Diego County kindergartners received recommended vaccinations during the 2018-19 school year, significantly behind the state average and less than the 95% that's generally seen as necessary to maintain "herd immunity" against infectious diseases.
This shows the need for legislation co-authored by state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, that would require state public health officers to approve medical vaccine exemptions for students. After personal belief exemptions were banned, medical exemptions for San Diego County kindergartners went from 108 in the school year before the change to 599 in the most recent school year. Many of these exemptions were based on parents' claims that their children had family histories of allergies or autoimmune disease. But public health officials say those are not valid grounds for exemptions.
Unfortunately, Gov. Gavin Newsom muddied the waters with comments that seemed to question the Pan-Gonzalez bill. He should embrace it instead.
