Amid Protests, Governor Signs Vaccination Exemption Bills

SACRAMENTO (CBSLA) — Amid protests and arrests at the State Capitol, Governor Gavin Newsom signed new legislation that would limit vaccine exemptions in schools.

It gives the the state the power to deny certain medical exemptions that seem suspicious. Lawmakers argue it will allow them to crack down on doctors who sell fraudulent medical exemptions. The new legislation also mandates that schools can give children grace periods that could last several years on existing medical exemptions.

Hundreds of anti-vaccination protesters descended on the State Capitol before the bill signing and blocked entrances to the building and Governor Newsom's office. Several were arrested.

"I just want my choice. Now the narrative is that we are violent angry terrorists that just don't want to vaccine our kids," said one protester.

Lorraine, a registered Orange County nurse, is concerned about the law. She has a four-year-old old daughter that suffers from a rare genetic brain disorder.

Her daughter got her first vaccine when she six months old and hours later had a seizure.

"My daughter has complex seizures that don't stop with medicine. We are in the ER multiple times because of it and these can result in death," Lorraine said, stressing that she's not against vaccines but that it should be a parent's choice.  "They've made checkpoints so that our children have to get these permanent medical exemptions renewed every so often and we are already having a hard time finding doctors who are brave enough in giving the medical exemptions because of the fear of being prosecuted for doing the right thing for our children."