The Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill this week that will allow the Department of Public Health and Environment to track whether children in the state are vaccinated or not vaccinated, and if the parents chose not to vaccinate their children for a medical or nonmedical reason.
The bill does not mandate vaccinations, but it was created to boost Colorado’s low immunization rates.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Jared Polis said the governor supports the new version of the vaccination bill, which failed to pass in the Legislature last year.
“The governor believes it honors the rights of parents while supporting the administration’s efforts to boost immunization rates,” the spokeswoman said.
The bill passed in the House on Tuesday and passed in the Senate in February before the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the legislative session.
Colorado Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, said in a phone interview he did not support the bill because it is “a little overreaching.” He said he believes it is up to parents to vaccinate their children, not the state.
“If you do not vaccinate, and your child comes up with something, is it the responsibility of the state or the taxpayer to bail you out of your decision?” Coram asked.
That question was hotly contested in the Legislature, with people in the gallery yelling to lawmakers in the House on Tuesday: “We will vote you out!” Colorado Sun reporter Jennifer Brown tweeted.
“Both sides are dug in so hard, no one is going to compromise on this,” Coram said.
But Colorado Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango, said those in opposition of the bill are “not reading it correctly.”
The bill does not require vaccinations, but it asks parents to indicate whether their child is vaccinated and whether the reason is medical or nonmedical, such as a religious exemption.
Currently, parents just hand in a piece of paper to the school administration, explaining they do not want their children vaccinated, McLachlan said.
“The death rate for measles is higher than it is for COVID,” McLachlan said.
If there is a breakout of measles, the bill makes it easier for the school district to identify children who are not vaccinated and contact their parents to say those children should not go into school, McLachlan said.
“It’s about the kids, but (opponents of the bill) are making it bigger than that,” McLachlan said.
Eric Frances of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the state wants to track the reason why parents chose not to vaccinate their children – whether it be for medical or non-medical reasons – so the department will “have more complete information in our immunization registry so that we can better protect Coloradans from serious infectious diseases.”
Colorado has the lowest rates in the nation of kindergartners vaccinated for measles and chickenpox, according to San Juan Basin Public Health.
“If the current pandemic has demonstrated anything, it is that we must work to protect our communities from communicable diseases,” said Liane Jollon, SJBPH executive director, in an email.
More families are avoiding their immunization appointments because they are afraid of contracting COVID-19, Jollon said.
“A secondary outbreak of flu, measles or any other vaccine-preventable disease on top of ongoing coronavirus infections would place a huge burden on public health and health care systems already under pressure from COVID-19,” Jollon said.
The new vaccination bill from the Colorado Legislature will help improve vaccination rates while preserving choice for families who want to opt out, Jollon said.
If Polis signs the bill into law, Colorado residents can repeal the measure via referendum if they collect enough signatures within 90 days. In Colorado, the number of signatures required for a successful petition is equal to 5% of the total number of votes cast for the Colorado secretary of state in the latest general election, which was in 2018. That means petitioners would need to collect 124,632 votes.
ehayes@durangoherald.com