(KCBS Radio) - Californians strongly support a new state law creating new oversight of vaccine medical exemptions for school children, despite a highly contentious legislative process.
Those opposed made a lot of noise in Sacramento with days of protest at the state capitol. One protestor threw a menstrual cup that appeared to contain blood on a group of lawmakers during the last legislative session of the year.
Mark DiCamillo, director of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Poll, tells KCBS that a new poll released today shows that 83 percent of voters are in favor of the new law, and 61 percent of voters favor the law strongly. Just 16 percent are opposed.
“They want a safe environment for the children, and I think that’s the dominant view,” he said. “If you have too many kids going to school without vaccinations, the feeling is that it may put their own child at risk.”
The new law sets up oversight for those seeking vaccine exemptions for their children run by the state’s Department of Public Health.
“This is a population healthy type of law,” DiCamillo said. “They want the population of children to be vaccinated.”
The poll also noted that 71 percent of voters expressed a high-degree of concern over the recent outbreak of measles in California. Those most concerned about the outbreak also have the highest support for the new child vaccination law.