AUGUSTA, Maine — One of the hottest issues to hit the Legislature so far is about mandatory vaccinations for children.
Rep. Ryan Tipping of Orono is sponsoring a bill that would require most children to be vaccinated in order to attend school. That bill has stirred anger among a number of parents who say vaccines have injured their children and fear they will injure others.
The opponents were at the State House Tuesday to lobby lawmakers against the bill. They say Maine’s current system allows parents to opt out of vaccinations for religious or philosophical reasons, as well as medical ones. The bill would only allow for medical exemptions, which opponents say are hard to get.
"What the state is proposing is dangerous for a lot of kids, and parents are no longer going to have the right to make medical decisions based on true informed consent for their children," said Ginger Taylor of the Coalition for Vaccine Choice. "So it is the most aggressive, most expansive vaccine bill we have ever had in the united states."
The parents say the bill takes away their rights, but Rep. Tipping says its about protecting the majority of children from disease.
"This bill is only affecting parents who want to make that decision and then affect other children by bringing an unvaccinated child into the public sphere into schools and day cares."
Tipping says that while the Maine CDC reports roughly 95 percent of school age children are vaccinated, there is a growing number of parents who fear vaccines pose a threat to their children. Tipping says his bill is to protect the majority of children from those childhood diseases.
"This law is not mandatory. People would still be able to choose not to vaccinate," he said, although the consequence would be that their children could not attend public or private schools in Maine.
The bill is still awaiting public hearing, and legislators say they are hearing many comments from constituents on the vaccine issue.
Dr. Deborah Hagler is Vice President of the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatric Medicine. She says a growing number of parents are saying they’re worried about the danger they believe are posed by vaccines. But Hagler says the risk from vaccines is "miniscule", compared to the risk of sickness or even death from those illnesses the vaccines are designed to prevent.