California’s Personal Belief Exemption Law Does Not Apply to COVID Vaccines

26th July 2021

California’s Personal Belief Exemption Law Does Not Apply to COVID Vaccines

COVID vaccines are not required by schools in CA (Getty Images).

The Claim

In California, a personal belief exemption law allows for parents to prevent their children from getting a COVID vaccine.

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Emerging story

In June, a meme gained attention due to its claims of a “personal belief exemption” for vaccines in California. The post stated that any vaccines that had been implemented for schoolchildren in California after 2015 were subject to the exemption. Underneath this, the image listed three diseases; flu, HPV and coronavirus, implying that these three diseases’ vaccines were covered by the law.

This initial post has gained hundreds of interactions on Instagram. Earlier posts of this meme have also gained hundreds of interactions on Facebook.

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that coronavirus vaccines are not currently required for school participation in California. Therefore, the personal belief exemption does not factor into a parent’s decision to get their child vaccinated. However, the law that the meme is referring to has the potential to be rewritten to ban personal belief exemptions.

The law, Senate Bill No. 277, was implemented in 2015 not to increase the power of personal belief exemptions in school vaccinations but to restrict them. The bill ended personal belief exemptions for a range of childhood vaccinations, such as diphtheria and measles. The text that the meme highlights as banning new vaccines from being mandatory is as follows: “This bill would eliminate the exemption from existing specified immunization requirements based upon personal beliefs, but would allow exemption from future immunization requirements deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health for either medical reasons or personal beliefs.”

Several legal experts believe that the personal belief exemption could be waived for coronavirus vaccines. For example, UC Hastings Law Professor Dorit Reiss has stated that personal belief exemptions would apply to the coronavirus vaccines if the vaccine is mandated without it being approved via the California State Legislature. However, the legislature could decide to add the coronavirus vaccine to the mandatory list without a personal belief exemption.

Therefore, the current law does not currently apply to coronavirus vaccines, and it is possible for the personal belief exemption to be negated by California’s lawmakers.