Petition asks for mandatory vaccines in B.C.
Posted February 13, 2019 10:16 pm.
Last Updated February 14, 2019 6:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) — A petition asking for vaccines to be mandatory for children going to public schools in B.C. is gaining steam.
Mom Katie Clunn started circulating the petition over the weekend after Vancouver Coastal Health confirmed there had been a case of measles in Vancouver. Since then, a second case has been confirmed.
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Clunn says children that are not vaccinated put their classmates at risk, and unless they have a medical reason not to get one, vaccines should be mandatory for enrollment. At the very least, she says schools should collect information on which children have their immunizations up to date.
“I don’t think we should just be willy-nilly and letting people send their unvaccinated kids to school because they’ve read some blog,” she says. “It’s not that I don’t empathize with their point of view that it seems like a forced medical thing, however it’s not really when you have the choice of either vaccinating or home schooling.”
She says she was inspired to push the petition forward thinking about her unborn child.
“I have a baby in my belly at the moment, and obviously this child won’t be vaccinated until its first birthday, and the idea of going through next winter wondering if there’s going to be another outbreak is really what motivated me to do this,” she says.
WATCH: Second measles case in Vancouver
She adds she’s also concerned for friends that have compromised immune systems as measles could seriously hurt them.
Clunn started the petition a few years ago, but it peaked at about 100 signatures. She revived it over the weekend, and since then it’s gathered more than 1,000 signatures.
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She thinks people are more receptive to the idea of mandatory vaccines now than when she tried to sell the idea before.
“I think they’re getting more receptive because it’s becoming so common, and they’re starting to realize something needs to be done,” she says.
