Democratic Maine governor Janet Mills signed a bill into law Friday that made Maine the fourth state to bar residents from claiming religious or philosophical reasons to opt-out of vaccines and immunizations.
"As governor, it is my responsibility to protect the health and safety of all Maine people, and it has become clear that our current laws do not adequately protect against the risks posed to Mainers," Mills said in a statement.
Mills said the law would better serve the public at large.
"People of good will hold sincere beliefs on both sides of the issue," she said, "but Maine has a vaccination opt-out rate that is three times higher than the national average for students entering Kindergarten and the state ranks seventh in the country for the rate of non-medical exemptions taken among school-age children."
Mills signed the bill as Maine faces a whooping cough outbreak. Dozens of states are dealing with similar public health crises, including several measles outbreaks.
Nearly 900 cases of measles were confirmed across 24 states between January 1 and May 17 this year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Maine recorded its first measles case since 2017 earlier this month.
(c)2019 New York Daily News
