AUGUSTA, Maine - The question of whether parents should be allowed to exempt their children from vaccinations was before the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee Monday. One proposed bill would prohibit parents from exempting a child on philosophical grounds. Another would require the signature of a health care provider.
Parental rights and public health are at the intersection of the ongoing debate over vaccine safety. Currently, Maine parents who are philosophically opposed to vaccinations can send an unvaccinated child to school or day care by signing a piece of paper.
Democratic Rep. Linda Sanborn wants that piece of paper to also have the signature of a health care provider. "It does not, as some will claim, 'drive a wedge' between the parent and medical provider," Sanborn said. "To the contrary, it will bring the two together for a conversation."
Sanborn, a retired family physician, says she's concerned about the increase in vaccine exemptions. Maine has the fifth-highest rate in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control, with 5.5 percent of kindergartners exempted in 2013.
Dr. Lisa Ryan, president of the Maine Medical Association, says immunizations are one of the most important public health advances in medicine to date. "We have the ability not only to protect Maine's children and young adults from potentially deadly and devastating illnesses, but also to prevent epidemics of these diseases by ensuring all children in Maine receive these vaccinations at the appropriate times."
Physicians and parents testified about the pain of watching patients and loved ones die from preventable diseases. Jerri Brooks Greenwell of Bethel lost her young adult son to meningococcal meningitis 12 years ago.
"Our anger and grief quickly turned to disbelief and an overwhelming sense of guilt when we were told Jerry's death could have been prevented, had we only known that this disease was potentially preventable with a vaccine," Greenwell said.
Proponents of tighter vaccine requirements say it's important to ensure "herd immunity" - the concept that a high percentage of the population needs to be immunized to protect those who can't be. Many supporters of Sanborn's bill see it as a compromise alternative to one that would eliminate the philosophical exemption altogether.
But opponents don't share that view. "Who are the true extremists in this debate?" asked Mark Blaxill. "The parents, who have seen vaccine injury first hand? Or the advocates for more intensive vaccination policy? I would suggest it's the latter."
Blaxill is research and policy advisor for the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice. Blaxill says he's not anti-vaccine, he's pro-parental choice.
Ellen Stanley of Ellsworth says she also supports parent choice after her daughter developed medical issues following a vaccine she received as an infant. "You might say I'm a misinformed parent swayed by the Internet," she said. "But here's my question: Are you sure vaccines are safe and do not hurt children?"
Many opposed to tightening vaccine requirements say there are real concerns about vaccines that should be addressed first. Robert Kennedy Jr., who recently published a book about vaccines, told the Health and Human Services Committee that laws should target vaccine industry regulators.
"There's nobody left between that rapacious industry and that Maine child except for the mother," Kennedy said. "And now what they want to do - not just here, but in 37 states with 101 of these bills - is to take that mother out of the equation."
A 1986 law gave the vaccine industry immunity from lawsuits, but set up a vaccine court to award compensation to those injured by vaccines. But critics say the court is ineffective.
A bill in Maine would create a state Vaccine Consumer Protection program, which would provide information about vaccine injuries and immunizations to health care providers and the public. Gov. Paul LePage's health policy advisor says the governor opposes all three bills.
