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Oregon Bill Tightening Vaccine Requirements May Soon Have a New Loophole

As legislature getting rid of the nonmedical exemption to vaccines, new amendment would make it less cumbersome to get a medical exemption.

A vaccination clinic at David Douglas High School in February. (Henry Cromett)
By Rachel Monahan

State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D-Portland) plans to an offer an
amendment to the vaccine-requirement bill currently winding its way through the Oregon Legislature.

House Bill 3063 would get rid of the state's non-medical exemptions to the requirement that schoolchildren have vaccines.

Steiner Hayward's amendment will make it easier to get a medical exemption, the Portland Tribune first reported.

Under her proposal, medical doctors and nurse practitioners (but not naturopaths) can supply a doctor's notes to schools stating a child needs to postpone or not have a particular vaccine. Under the existing system, Oregon Health Authority must approve exemptions.

"It's an effort to address some reasonable concerns raised by some parents," says Steiner Hayward, citing the "cumbersome process" currently in place for getting a medical exemption.

The state Medical Board will be charged with guarding against abuse of the
system by health care providers.

Related: A Beaverton pediatrician has 15,000 patients—and he's telling them the measles vaccine might cause autism.

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