Californians strongly back vaccine law in new statewide poll

SACRAMENTO – Californians strongly support a state law creating new oversight of vaccine medical exemptions for schoolchildren in a statewide poll released Monday, with backing across a spectrum of political affiliations, income and education levels, and geography.

The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, found that 90 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of those with no party preference and 73 percent of Republicans supported the effort to increase immunization rates at schools and daycare facilities by allowing the California Department of Public Health to review and possibly reject a doctor’s determination that a child should skip all or some of their shots.

Overall, 8 out of every 10 voters surveyed said they supported the new law, with 61 percent saying they favored it strongly. Just 16 percent said they opposed it. The strongest dissent came from participants in the poll who described themselves as very politically conservative – 1 out of every 3 of those voters said they opposed it.

Still, 67 percent of conservative voters who participated overwhelmingly supported the vaccination law, said Mark Dicamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll.

“This is not just causal support; there is very strong support among a large segment of voters,” Dicamillo said. “The most likely to be on board are liberals and those who say they are concerned about the measles outbreak.”

Senate Bill 276 by state Sen. Richard Pan (D-sacramento) will establish state review of vaccine exemptions issued by doctors in an effort to weed out those given for nonmedical reasons. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill on Sept. 9 after weeks of protests against the contentious bill, which drew hundreds to the state Capitol this year.

Beginning in 2020, the state will review medical exemptions written by doctors who have given five or more waivers and at schools with an immunization rate below 95 percent. The new law allows the state to reject only those medical exemptions issued after Dec. 31, except in cases in which a doctor has been disciplined by the state medical board. In those cases, the state can invalidate all past medical exemptions written by the doctor.

Opponents of SB 276 filed a referendum to block the new law in hopes of gathering the 623,212 valid signatures from registered voters needed to qualify it for the 2020 ballot.

Supporters of SB 276 say the newly released poll demonstrates what they’ve known since introducing the bill – that Californians support strong vaccination laws.