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All U.S. states require most parents to vaccinate their children against some preventable diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough, to be able to attend school. Such laws often apply to children in private schools and day care facilities as well as public schools. At the same time, beyond medical exemptions, most states also allow parents to opt out of this vaccination requirement for religious reasons. And 17 states permit other exemptions — allowing families to opt out of school vaccination requirements for personal or philosophical reasons. (Neighmond, 2/28)

Measles outbreaks in Washington and New York states have focused new attention on exemptions like the one embedded in Wisconsin law, which allows parents to opt out of immunization "for reasons of health, religion, or personal conviction." Sixteen other states have similar laws, which critics say contribute to a rise in the number of unvaccinated kids. (Haynes, 2/28)

After three hours of testimony on a bill that would eliminate most vaccine exemptions, 180 people still waited to speak their minds. Nearly all of them were there to oppose House Bill 3063, which the Oregon Legislature has taken up in the midst of one of the largest measles outbreaks the Pacific Northwest has ever seen. The chairwoman of the House Committee on Health Care prioritized people who had traveled from within Oregon to get to the Capitol, and about 75 people were able to speak. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Lake Oswego, said that as of the 3 p.m. start time, more than 1,000 written documents had been submitted for the record at such a rapid pace that workers putting the documents online couldn’t keep up. (Harbarger, 2/28)

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey says he is "pro-vaccination" and will not sign any bills that could erode vaccine coverage in the state. ...Disregarding warnings from health officials, the state House Health and Human Services Committee last week endorsed three bills that could lead to lower immunization coverage among Arizona's schoolchildren. (Innes, 2/28)

A Texas state lawmaker suggested that he is not worried about the recent outbreak of measles across the country because antibiotics can treat the virus. Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler (R) made the comments Tuesday to the Texas Observer and said he had a case of measles when growing up, before a vaccine for it was developed. (Daugherty, 2/28)

Global measles cases increased by 48.4% between 2017 and 2018, according to calculations by UNICEF of data on 194 countries from the World Health Organization. Ten countries, including Brazil, the Philippines and France, accounted for nearly three-quarters of the total increase in measles cases in 2018, according to figures released by the UN's agency for children. This "alarming" global surge in measles cases poses a "growing" threat to children, UNICEF says. (Avramova, 2/28)

The measles outbreak in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community continues to grow, New York City health officials said Thursday, even after the city ordered schools to bar unvaccinated students in some ZIP Codes from attending. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said 121 cases have been identified since October, up 31 from last week. It is the worst measles outbreak in New York City since 1991. Most cases in this outbreak are children in Borough Park and Williamsburg. The first to become sick had visited Israel, which faces a major outbreak now. (Brody and West, 2/28)