NCL statement applauding CA legislation to ban vaccine personal exemptions – National Consumers League
May 15, 2015
Contact: NCL Communications, Carol McKay (412) 945-3242, carolm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—On the heels of a California Senate move to ban the personal belief exemptions for vaccinations, the National Consumers League has issued the following statement, which may be attributed to Executive Director Sally Greenberg:
“We applaud the leadership in California, where too many people had been choosing to go without vaccines based on personal belief – or, in many cases, misinformation – and where an outbreak of measles at Disneyland last December sickened 136 people. The science has been proven time and again. Vaccines are safe and effective—in individuals and for the greater community—and only those with health reasons should be exempted.
“Our own research has shown that Americans are confused about vaccines, and understandably so. For over a generation, we have lived virtually free from many of these diseases due to the effectiveness of the vaccines that have stamped them out. We have lost perspective on how deadly they can be. Now, we are dealing with a group of Americans who don’t appreciate the severity of these illnesses, are exercising personal choice to abstain from vaccinating, and are enabling these deadly diseases to start to infiltrate our communities once again. California is taking a step in the right direction by sending a very clear message about how narrow the exceptions should be in order to keep us safe as a community.”
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
