(A friend just sent me this last night: it’s a couple weeks old now, but I haven’t seen it mentioned here...)
A while ago, California passed SB277, which removes the “personal belief exemption” from mandatory vaccinations, and requires all students in public or private schools be vaccinated. The anti-vaxxers filed a lawsuit against it and requested an injunction barring the law from being enforced until it was litigated.
A short while ago the judge issued a ruling that denied the injunction and allowed the law to remain in effect. The text of the ruling is here (PDF):
The judge was brutal to the woo-woos. After laying out the case law which has long upheld the state’s compelling interest in having its citizens vaccinated and the lack of any compelling interest for NOT having its citizens vaccinated, the court concluded bluntly:
Plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on their claim that SB 277 violates their right to free exercise because it fails to include a religious exemption.
Plaintiffs are also unlikely to succeed on their claim that SB 277 violates their rights to free exercise because it forces them to choose between exercising their religious beliefs and their children’s education.
Plaintiffs have not shown they have a likelihood of success on their claim that SB 277 violates the right to education under California law.
In other words, all of the legal arguments presented by the anti-vaxxers are horse shit. The state has, not surprisingly, asked for a summary dismissal of the case, and it seems very likely they will get it.
I expect the anti-vaxxers are already weeping and whining about the “Big Pharma judge blah blah blah biased conspiracy yadda yadda yadda ….”