Maine Makes it Harder to Avoid Vaccinating Your Kids

There used to be religious and philosophical exemptions to opt out of getting your kids vaccinated...no longer.

By just one vote, the Maine Senate voted to remove the religious and philosophical exemption to avoid getting your kids vaccinated. According to the Portland Press Herald, the bill now heads to Governor Janet Mills desk to sign and become law.

This reverses a vote that was taken just last week! If Gov. Mills signs the bill into law, Maine would then be the 4th state to ban all non-medical exemptions that let parents not vaccinate their kids for school.

The vote was along party lines with Republicans against the bill and Democrats wanting the change. As we all know, this pro-vaccinate and anti-vaccinate debate is a hot one.

Some believe that this vote will force people to leave Maine, one senator saying there would be an 'exodus' of families leaving Maine.

But supporters say that not getting your kid vaccinated puts other kids at risk. There have been measle outbreaks across the country. Maine currently has one of the worst vaccination rates in the entire country and one of the highest rates of whooping cough.  This is a step that will hopefully reverse that. But there's no proof that it would.