California has passed a law requiring people who work or volunteer at daycare centers to show proof they've been vaccinated against certain diseases.
Under the bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, daycare workers will have to have vaccinations for measles, flu and whooping cough (pertussis) beginning Sept. 1 of next year.
Daycare center and care homes will be required to maintain immunization records confirming workers and volunteers have received such vaccinations.
The new law follows a similar one, passed amid much debate and controversy in June, which removed most vaccination exemptions for children in California schools and daycare facilities.
Prior to the passage of that bill, parents had been able to apply for an exemption from vaccination on religious or personal belief grounds, exemptions no longer possible under what is one of country's strictest vaccination laws.
A recent effort by opponents of that law to put a repeal measure before California voters failed to gather enough signatures needed to put a referendum on the ballot.
Democrat Tony Mendoza introduced the new bill, SB 792, in the State Senate, where it passed by 34 to 3. The State Assembly passed the measure 60 to 16.
"We must do everything in our power to protect California's children," Mendoza said in a statement. "If this new law can prevent the loss of even one child due to a communicable disease, then it will be considered a success. Because one child's death is one too many, especially when it may be preventable."
The new law comes almost a year after a measles outbreak originating at Disneyland, California's worst outbreak in 24 years, infected more than 130 state residents and more than two dozen people visiting from out of state.
"Disease outbreaks of measles, once thought to have been eradicated in the United States, have resurfaced," Mendoza said. "As a consequence, public health officials have been sounding the alarm that more should be done to protect the most vulnerable populations such as children and seniors."
Unlike the mandatory vaccination law for children, the new law for daycare workers does allow for exemptions based on medical concerns, such as if a worker has a compromised immune system or is on chemotherapy.
