North Carolina becomes 3rd state to reject stricter mandatory vaccination laws

North Carolina joined Oregon and Washington State yesterday in dumping proposed legislation that would have restricted the rights of parents to exempt their children from vaccinations.

“The bill is dead,” stated three state senators, two Republicans and one Democrat, who less than two weeks ago confidently introduced the legislation. Their confidence soon faded, however, following a backlash from citizens concerned about their children’s safety, their own religious rights, and the effect of government overreach on their personal liberties.

“After hearing serious concerns about stricter vaccine and immunization requirements from our constituents and from citizens across the state, we have decided we will not move forward,” the three senators said yesterday in a statement.

Efforts to limit individual choices continue in some three dozen states — California, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont among them. Even in Oregon and Washington, where efforts failed, mandatory vaccination proponents plan to re-introduce restrictive bills. To date, however, grassroots opposition that seemed to come out of nowhere has, to the mandatory vaccination camps’ surprise, stymied their efforts.