Bill is Not Removing Vaccine Exemptions

Mujin Choi included a caption to the post that said, “Democratic Party = Bill Gates party.” The post had 176 shares and 111 comments as of June 17, 2020. Comments included sentiments such as “Everyone MUST REFUSE! I MAY BECOME A COVID 19 UNVACCINATED TEACHER” and “Well then all children need to be home schooled end of story.”

However, the post spreads incorrect news. While the State House of Representatives in Colorado did pass the School Entry Immunization Bill SB20-163 on June 10, it does not mention the vaccines for HPV, the flu, or COVID-19, for which there is no vaccine yet. Instead, as per the Colorado General Assembly website, the bill “codified a definition of ‘nonmedical exemption’ to mean an immunization exemption based upon a religious belief whose teachings are opposed to immunizations or a personal belief that is opposed to immunizations.”

While the bill does aim to increase vaccination rates, it does so by formalizing registration for receiving a nonmedical exemption for immunization, not by removing exemptions for vaccines. It adds more processing for people who want a nonmedical exemption for their children to attend school without vaccinations but does not disallow them from attending school without receiving their immunizations. Colorado has the lowest rate of immunization in the country (87.4%) for certain vaccines, including the MMR vaccine, and lawmakers hope to have 95% of student vaccinated in the future.