Sen. Barbara Boxer slams anti-vaccination parents
Source: By Doug Oakley, Mercury News
POSTED: 02/19/2015 05:53:49 AM PST
122 COMMENTS| UPDATED: A DAY AGO
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is joined on the stage by Dr. Richard Pan, a state senator from Sacramento and a pediatrician, as she talks about legislation regarding immunizations at the Head Start center in Emeryville, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. Boxer has introduced a bill to Congress that would require vaccinations for preschoolers participating in Head Start. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group) (Kristopher Skinner)
EMERYVILLE -- Sen. Barbara Boxer pummeled parents who refuse to vaccinate their children during a tour of a YMCA Head Start school Wednesday where she promoted her bill requiring children in the program nationwide to be immunized.
Boxer made the comments in the midst of a national measles outbreak that started in California. She criticized parents who are not vaccinating their children because of unfounded concerns spread by people outside the medical establishment.
"All I'm saying is, we have doctors we can trust and you should listen to them and not some quack who comes up with a theory that is disproven," Boxer said. "I say to all those people who have a theory that has been disproven, you are not acting in the right way for your family or for society. People don't understand how dangerous this disease is. It blows my mind. You are not only endangering your child, but others and that is not right."
Last week Boxer introduced the Head Start on Vaccinations Act with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto. She chose the Emeryville Head Start program to advertise the bill she introduced Feb. 12 because of the program's 100 percent immunization rate, she said.
"We're not forcing anybody to get vaccinated," Boxer said. "If you want to get into Head Start and you don't want to get vaccinated, bye, bye, go somewhere else."
Head Start has about 1 million preschoolers in the federally funded program that gets kids ready for kindergarten.
Boxer was joined by state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, who will introduce a (state) law Thursday abolishing the state's personal belief exemption that allows parents to avoid vaccinations when they enter public schools.
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