Print edition: 
A bill allowing parents to get their kids out of mandatory shots for school on the grounds of personal conscience appears unlikely to get out of a legislative committee.
State Rep. Brenda Landwehr of Wichita, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, she didn’t sense a lot of support for the bill in her committee and doesn’t intent to have the committee work it.
A couple weeks ago, Landwehr’s committee held a spirited hearing that pitted parents wanting the freedom to make decisions on behalf of their children against public health advocates who contend that mandatory shots are vital to stemming the spread of disease.
The hearing brought out dozens of parents -- many wearing green T-shirts reading “Kansans for Vaccine Rights” — to implore lawmakers to allow them to get their kids out of mandatory shots for school on the grounds of personal conscience.
The proposed law would have expanded the current exemptions, which allow parents to opt out of mandatory immunizations if they jeopardize a child’s life or for religious reasons.
But state health officials told legislators that mandatory vaccine laws are critical to stopping the spread of disease.
They noted that there are at least 14 studies showing that so-called personal belief exemptions increase the risk of disease outbreaks.
