Calif. GOPer on Vaccine Law: Should We Scrap Religious Liberty in the Name of Health?
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
MELVIN: "The news comes just days after California governor Jerry Brown signed what's being called the strictest vaccination law in the country. The law bars parents from opting out of vaccination requirements due to religious or other objections. I'm joined now by one of the law's toughest opponents, former assembly and one-time Republican gubernatorial candidate. He hosts the Tim Donnelly show on kixw A.M. Radio. You recently filed paperwork, I understand, to get a referendum on that law. What's your main point of contention with the new law?"
DONNELLY: "Well, the main point of contention is should we wipe out religious liberty in the name of public health and is this law, sp-277, which forces every child to be vaccinated or they can't go to public or private school with other kids? Is it really going to be effective at doing anything to further protect public health?"
MELVIN: "How then do we strike that balance between religious liberty and public health? It sounds as if you acknowledge that public health is something that we should work to protect.
DONNELLY: "Well, absolutely. I mean, look, first of all, I vaccinated my own kids. By that of my own free will. I made that choice. It was an informed decision. There's a lot of parents who want to make that same choice and some, for religious reasons, are choosing not to and others for personal beliefs and we've had that exemption for a long time in California. We never had any great outbreaks. And this measles outbreak at Disneyland, if you look at the CDC information, 45 percent of the victims were unvaccinated but the CDC says they still don't know who caused it or what the actual cause was."
MELVIN: "But we do know there are 150 people across the west coast who contracted the disease. How do we make sure that this unvaccinated child whose parent opted out because of religious reasons, how do we make sure that child, when that chimd child comes in contact with my 15-month-old, how do we make sure there's not a disease that's contracted, that that unvaccinated child isn't, you know, infecting others?"
DONNELLY: "Well, first of all, we don't know that an unvaccinated individual caused this measles outbreak. That's who they've targeted. And to answer your question, this outbreak didn't happen in the schools. That's what they're cracking down on. This happened in a public place, in a place that millions and millions of people visit every year. What does everybody say after a great accomplishment life, super Bowl victory, where are you going? I'm going to disneyland. We don't know if it could possibly have been a foreign visitor. We don't check people's vaccination records at the airport nor am I advocating that we do that because tourism is good for our economy. So there has to be a balance somewhere. And the bottom line is that they passed a law that is without even knowing the true cause of the outbreak and I think that's legislating a solution without really fully understanding the problem."
