October 1, 2012 Minutes

Coalitions Conference Call

Summary IAC’s Survey of Immunization Coalitions, Personal Belief Exemption Legislation in California, and Brainstorming Session

Agenda Item 1: Summary of IAC’s Survey of Immunization Coalitions
Featured Speaker: Sharon Humiston, MD, MPH, Associate Director for Research, IAC

Sharon Humiston presented a summary of IAC’s survey of 224 immunization coalitions. Dr. Humiston’s accompanying slide deck provides an excellent overview of her talk.
 
 

Agenda Item 2: Update on Personal Belief Legislation in California
Featured Speaker: Catherine Martin, Director, California Immunization Coalition

Catherine Martin provided an update of California Assembly Bill 2109. After 9 months of work, this bill was signed into law by Governor Brown on September 30. The bill requires that any parent or guardian who requests exemption from vaccination for a child must receive information about the risks and benefits from a specified healthcare provider that includes a medical doctor, osteopathic physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, naturopath (under supervision of a licensed physician), or credentialed school nurse. In his signing statement the governor directed the California Department of Public Health “to allow for a separate religious exemption on the form.” California had previously only offered medical and personal belief exemptions. The state health department will develop a form that parents can use to apply for an exemption; alternatively, the parent/guardian or healthcare professional can write a letter. The law will be implemented January 2014. Catherine concluded that this success was a real team effort.
 
 

Agenda Item 3: Brainstorming Session with Open Discussion
A brainstorming session took place with open discussion of possible topics for future phone conferences and emails. If you have ideas for future topics, please email IAC’s Teresa Anderson.

 

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