TEL AVIV – The Syrian refugee crisis has precipitated a “catastrophic outbreak” of a flesh-eating disease that is spreading across the Middle East and North Africa, according to research published on Thursday in the scientific journal PLOS.
State Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) is sharply rebuking Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam for mischaracterizing the Tennessee General Assembly’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit against the federal government for its operation of the refugee resettlement program to the state’s Attorney General, Herbert Slatery.
One of every five refugees resettled in Minnesota by the federal government tested positive for latent tuberculosis in 2014, according to the state’s Department of Health.
Public health officials in the Shelby County Health Department, the Tennessee Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) seem reluctant to pursue a possible connection between a recent outbreak of measles in Memphis and the refugee resettlement program.
The first reported case of a person with measles in the recent Memphis outbreak, which now numbers seven confirmed cases, was at a local mosque on April 15, according to the Shelby County Health Department.
Highly contagious airborne diseases–tuberculosis (TB) and measles–surfaced in three Texas public school districts located in different parts of the state, although officials have not identified the origins of these cases.
Vaccination rates seem to be rising in California on their own–long before the state’s controversial new mandatory vaccination law takes effect in July 2016.
The government of Sierra Leone received a mere six-day respite from fighting Ebola, as a new case announced today resets the countdown clock to declaring the nation Ebola-free. The body of a 67-year-old woman in remote Kambia district has tested positive for the virus.
Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) faces a recall effort from Californians that opposed SB 277 after the state Senator spearheaded the bill that made California one of three states with the most severe childhood vaccine laws.
Officials confirmed that a woman killed by measles in Washington State this spring had been vaccinated as a child but a combination of health problems, a depressed immune system and being on medication that interfered with her response to an infection left her unprotected from the deadly disease.
Parental rights have taken center stage at three Health Freedom Rallies held Friday along California’s coast at the Golden Gate Bridge, Huntington Beach Pier, and Santa Monica Pier.
Former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly has launched a referendum against vaccine law SB277, pledging to work with every individual or group to collect the signatures needed to put the vaccine referendum on the 2016 ballot and let voters decide this issue.
The same day that California Governor Jerry Brown signed childhood vaccine bill SB 277 into law, two-time Golden Globe Award winning comedic actor Jim Carrey took to Twitter blasting the governor for not killing the bill that makes California among three states with the strictest vaccine laws in the country.
Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 277 into law on Tuesday despite every effort on the part of thousands to halt a legislative push making California one of the three most restrictive states on childhood vaccines in the United States.
California legislators passed the highly controversial SB 277 by a vote of 24-14 on Monday, despite massive opposition efforts launched against the school-based vaccine mandate that brought thousands to the state capitol and caused protests around California.
On Thursday, the California State Assembly passed the SB 277, which mandates child vaccinations as a condition of private and public school enrollment, by a vote of 46-30. Democrats and Republicans were divided within their own parties over the bill, which ultimately passed with bipartisan support. Due to amendments, however, the bill was immediately ordered back to the State Senate, where it previously passed.
An unvaccinated child who was visiting Martha’s Vineyard was diagnosed with measles last week, authorities are now reporting.
San Diego cases of tuberculosis are double the national average health officials say, raising again the question of the role of illegal immigration in the spread of very serious like tuberculosis (TB) in the United States.
Doctors in Port Loko, a northwestern region of Sierra Leone outside Freetown, are reporting a significant drop in the number of mothers bringing their children to hospitals for routine vaccinations. The mothers, they say, fear exposing their children to a resurgent Ebola virus, and in keeping them from hospitals are risking triggering the spread of polio or measles.
SACRAMENTO — As a sea of red-clad protestors looked on, California’s fiercely debated vaccine mandate bill, SB 277, passed through the State Assembly Committee on Health on an essentially party-line vote of 12-6 on Tuesday, with one Democrat abstaining.
SACRAMENTO — A sea of red flowed over the steps of California’s State Capitol on Tuesday as opponents of the new vaccine bill, SB 277, rallied against its passage. Hundreds gathered to hear legislators and a diverse variety of Californians from across the state denounce the bill ahead of a public hearing in the State Assembly’s Committee on Health.
Californians against school vaccine bill SB 277, led by former State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, are heading from southern California up to Sacramento in a brigade of buses to take a stand against the pending legislation.
Democrats in the California State Assembly are being accused of using the state budget to execute retribution against opponents of highly contentious vaccine mandate legislation.
A war of words has escalated between proponents and opponents of the highly contentious SB 277 bill in the California legislature, which would eliminate parental choice in vaccinations required to enroll children in public or private schools.
Parents and kids showed up in droves at the California Democratic Convention Saturday for a protest against SB 277 and other legislation.
On Thursday, the California State Senate passed Senate Bill 277, which would eliminate California parents’ ability to opt out of mandatory vaccines for their school children for reasons of “personal belief.” The vote was 25 in favor and 10 against.
New amendments may have expedited passage of the controversial SB 277 bill to eliminate California parents’ right to exempt their children from one or more school required vaccinations on the basis of “personal belief.” The bill could see a floor vote as early as Thursday.
A new study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has added fuel to the argument that the MMR vaccine is not causing autism.
Hours of contentious debate in California’s Senate Judiciary Committee resulted in a 5-1 vote earlier this week to advance SB 277, a bill that would eliminate parents’ ability to exempt their children from required vaccinations on the basis of personal belief.
Moms fighting vaccine mandate bill SB277 in the California legislature may have found an ally with the state’s branch of the ACLU given that both question its constitutionality. Moms, some with children, journeyed again to Sacramento on Wednesday to protest the bill
After a brief delay and second attempt, Senate Bill 277 (SB 277), which would require children in California to be vaccinated if they wish to enter a school setting, passed in the Golden State’s Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. The bill would end vaccine exemptions based on personal or religious belief. Only exemptions accompanied by a medical note would be granted.
As of April 17, 2015, California’s Department of Public Health has declared the outbreak of measles that began in Disneyland last December officially over. But that isn’t stopping Democrat California legislators from pressing on with the vaccine legislation that broke out along with the measles.
Overwhelming opposition from parents appears to have prevented a California Senate bill from advancing out of committee Wednesday. The bill would strip parents of their right to exempt their children from one or more of doses of vaccinations. Co-author Senator Richard Pan stands behind it, and it appears to be inspired by a measles outbreak that began in Disneyland last December.
California’s hotly-debated vaccinate mandate, Senate Bill 277, has been delayed just in time for the anticipated official April 17 end to the measles outbreak that began spreading at Disneyland last December and that inspired two Democrat State Senators, Dr. Richard Pan and Ben Allen, to propose the bill. The new legislation would strip parents’ ability to exempt their children from one or more of the 27 doses of vaccine required for K-12 students.
Parents opposed to a California legislative effort to revoke their ability to exempt their children from some vaccinations plan to bring their children to a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Education Committee–and promise to yank those kids out of school if the measure passes into law.
California legislators voted a bill through a State Senate committee 6-2 on Wednesday that would eliminate parental ability to opt their school-aged children out of required vaccinations, despite a strong showing from parents opposed and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who condemned the bill as “anti-woman and anti-mother” at a rally in Sacramento.
California is one of 20 states that currently allow vaccine exemptions based on a person’s religious beliefs or other reasons of conscience. This Wednesday, Senate Bill 277 (SB 277) begins an uphill journey through California’s legislature in an attempt to remove all vaccine exemptions, except for medical ones.
The measles outbreak has provoked California lawmakers to back legislation that would reduce personal belief exemptions for some or all required school vaccinations–but Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., wants them to reconsider.
In the midst of the Disneyland measles outbreak, California legislators have been decrying the number of under-vaccinated children in schools in a push for legislation that would strip parents of the right to choose whether to vaccinate their children. However, California Department of Public Health (CDPH) statistics show that “personal belief” exemptions account for only 2.54% of under-vaccinated California school children.
Widespread public debate over vaccinations has experienced an uptick following a measles outbreak that began at Disneyland last December, bringing further attention to institutions such as California day cares, some of which report lower rates of vaccination among enrolled children than the state’s kindergartens.