In states like Connecticut, all a parent must do to obtain a religious exemption is fill out a form with their name, their child’s name, their address and phone number. In all, 48 states currently allow for a religious exemption, and 20 states grant philosophical waivers for anyone who objects on the basis of personal, moral or other beliefs. In 2015, at least 19 states have introduced legislation addressing two of the primary avenues for a vaccination exemption: personal belief exemptions and religious exemptions. While the fight in California may be the most high profile in the nation, it’s far from the only one. As his father, Carl Krawitt, explains in the below scene from tonight’s newly updated version of The Vaccine War, “The story isn’t about Rhett anymore … It’s about the hundreds of kids currently with suppressed immune systems that rely on the science of herd immunity.” His parents are lobbying for an end to such exemptions. The trouble, however, is that a high-rate of non-medical exemptions in Marin County, where Krawitt lives, may be putting his life at risk. Until he regains his strength, Krawitt’s health largely depends on herd immunity. Although his cancer is in remission, his treatment has left his immune system too weak for vaccination. In California, the public face of this fight is Rhett Krawitt, who at just seven-years-old has lived with leukemia for most of his young life. Today, with measles outbreaks like the one that started at Disneyland unfolding in 17 states, battle lines are being redrawn. When FRONTLINE first investigated the issue five years ago in The Vaccine War, public health officials were struggling to explain the importance of herd immunity, the idea that the higher the vaccination rate of a community - or “herd” - is, the harder it is for a virus to spread. Take the question of whether a parent should be able to exempt their child from the mandatory vaccine schedules required to attend public school. Change rarely comes fast around hot-button issue in American politics, but over the past five years, the political landscape around childhood vaccinations has shifted dramatically.
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