Unless they have a religious exemption, all kids in the state need to get a new set of shots every year.
Parents would have to talk to their county’s health department about whether or not they could keep their kids from getting those shots because of their religion.
A bill that would change that is being pushed by State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur).
He said, “This bill would take the government out of that role, and parents or guardians could just get in writing and tell the school that they don’t want their child to get vaccinated for religious reasons.”
Okay, that’s it.
Orr said the bill came about because people in his district told him they didn’t like how the public health department was questioning their religious views.
He said that this plan would let parents make their own decisions without the government getting in the way.
“Parents will say, ‘I waited four or six hours, or the public health worker questioned me when I tried to get an exemption, which shouldn’t have happened.'” We’re trying to make the process easier by just having you tell a government official about your religious views. This will take that part out of the process.
I talked to some parents about the bill, but they didn’t want to go on live TV.
Some people said that parents should be the ones to decide if their child should get a vaccine. Some people thought this bill would put public safety at risk.
This bill comes right after Florida health officials had to deal with an outbreak of measles caused by kids who hadn’t been vaccinations.
With eleven meeting days left in the year, it’s still too early to know if this bill will make it to the governor’s desk.
