PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a proposal to stop schools from requiring students to get vaccinations.
A House committee heard emotional testimony from parents on both sides of the issue but decided to effectively kill the bill, saying it would have resulted in decreased vaccination rates and could have caused outbreaks in vaccine-preventable diseases.
Supporters of the bill said South Dakota is the first state Legislature this year to consider a proposal to end school vaccine requirements, but that the issue is now being carried by lawmakers in a few other states. They hoped that despite the bill’s defeat, their doubts about vaccinations would gain credence in the state.
Gov. Kristi Noem opposed the bill and told reporters last week that vaccinations have saved millions of lives. Doctors, as well as lobbyists from medical groups, hospitals, business groups, universities and schools, also lined up to voice their opposition.
Neil Rohe, a Sioux Falls chiropractor, spoke in support of the bill and raised medical concerns about vaccinations.
Catie Clobes, a mother from Montrose, Minnesota, who showed a photo of her infant daughter as she told lawmakers how she died shortly after receiving vaccinations. Angie Wehrkamp, a mother from Sioux Falls, showed a photo of her 2-year-old daughter who died after contracting the flu.
Other parents emotionally testified about how the bill would risk the safety of their children with conditions that weaken their immune systems. Doctors told lawmakers that a law like this could result in the deaths of hundreds of children from preventable diseases.
Dozens of families packed the room. Many came with a group called Health Freedom South Dakota that is advocating for the end to school vaccine requirements.
Mya Olson, the group’s founder, argued that the bill was not about the safety of vaccines, though she questioned their safety repeatedly, but about the rights of parents to choose to vaccinate their children.
Rep. Tim Rounds, a Pierre Republican, disagreed. “This is a vaccine bill. There is no question, no doubt about it.”
The state does not require vaccinations for students with religious exemptions and weakened immune systems. But Olson pointed out that Catholic schools in the state are no longer allowing Catholics to claim religious exemptions. Catholic schools still permit religious exemptions for non-Catholic students.
Department of Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon, who spoke in opposition to the bill, said, “Families on both sides of the argument are the most vested in these issues.”
She encouraged parents to learn about the benefits and potential side-effects of vaccinations but said she was concerned about misinformation about vaccines being spread on social media.
The Department of Health promotes vaccines as safe and important for keeping kids healthy. Over 96% of kindergartners in the state have been vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella, representing one of the highest coverage rates in the nation, according to the Department of Health. The state has not had a reported case of measles since 2015.
Despite the bill dying, Benson Hsu, a pediatrician with Sanford Children’s Hospital, said he was worried that legislation like this would raise doubts about vaccinations, which medical experts have overwhelmingly found to be safe and effective.
Olson said her group has has received 350 applications for membership since the bill’s introduction. And House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, the Platte Republican who introduced the bill, said he sees the legislation as a conversation-starter on the issue. He hopes it is something that the conservative-dominated Legislature takes another look at before next year’s session.
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