�Թϲ�����

Of the more than 2,600 bills introduced this year in the California Legislature, none captured the public’s attention like Senate Bill 276. Prompted by an alarming rise in measles cases and allegations of questionable vaccine exemptions, it was the legislative equivalent of a Rorschach test. Some were convinced they saw it as government overreach, others as a victory for science over social media-fueled skepticism. Along the way, it became a measurement of Newsom himself — the charismatic new governor who had yet to establish firm relationships with many of his fellow Democrats in the Legislature. The Times interviewed more than two dozen people involved in the private negotiations and public debate over SB 276, including legislators, state Capitol staffers, lobbyists and advocates. Their accounts detail missteps in the governor’s office, erratic communication among decision-makers and the emergence of a devout lobby of parents as a political force in Sacramento. (Gutierrez, Luna and Myers, 9/22)

Some schools in New York have reportedly begun to send students home if they haven’t received all required vaccinations after legislation recently went into effect ending religious exemptions for vaccines. According to BuzzFeed News, students were barred from attending class in some schools last week in response to a mandate issued earlier this year that prohibited schools in the state from “permitting any child to be admitted to such school, or to attend such school, in excess of 14 days without sufficient evidence that the child has received all age appropriate required vaccinations.”  (Folley, 9/22)

Aiming to stamp out the flu, the federal government awarded a $200 million federal grant to researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to develop a vaccine for the miserable virus that sickens millions and kills thousands every year. The university announced Friday that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would provide the funding for the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health in Baltimore. (Cohn, 9/20)

Even though flu infections hit Oregon and the rest of the United States every year, health officials can predict little, if anything, about the likely impact. They won’t know how bad a season is -- essentially if the vaccine works -- until well into the winter. Flu season usually hits sometime between October and May, if past flu seasons are any indication, and lasts four to six weeks. In Oregon, outbreaks usually peak between January and March. (Zarkhin, 9/21)