Strong majority of Californians support requiring vaccinations for school children Some of the key findings in a statewide survey published on June 3 showed that a majority of those surveyed agreed with Senate Bill 277 (Pan), a bill sponsored by the California Medical Association that would eliminate personal belief exemptions and require parents to vaccinate their children before enrolling them in school. According to a survey released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), two-thirds of Californians (67 percent) and public school parents (65 percent) say children should not be allowed to attend unless they are vaccinated. Majorities ... June 15, 2015 General Immunization, Public Health, State Legislation, Vaccination, Advocacy, I Heart Immunity 0 0 Comment Read More »
Senate passes bills to regulate e-cigarettes, raise smoking age Two bills aimed at making it harder for California’s youth to use tobacco products passed in the state Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 151 (Hernandez) would raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 18 to 21. SB 140 (Leno) would regulate e-cigarettes similar to combustible cigarettes, including banning their use in the usual “smoke-free” locations, such as schools, restaurants and hospitals. SB 151 was the first of the two bills heard on the Senate floor. It passed on a 26-8 vote. “We will not sit on the sidelines while big tobacco ... June 5, 2015 General Smoking, Smoking Age, State Legislation, Tobacco, Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
Save Lives California files two ballot initiatives to raise California's tobacco tax An initiative filed with the Attorney General’s Office on May 4 may give California voters the final say on a proposal that would raise the state’s tobacco tax by $2 per pack. The Save Lives California Coalition filed two ballot initiatives with the Attorney General. Both would direct revenue from a new tobacco tax into smoking prevention, cures for tobacco-related diseases and reinforcing the state’s health care system. The only difference between them is that one includes a tax hike on e-cigarettes in addition to combustible cigarettes. The filing is the ... May 18, 2015 General Save Lives California, Tobacco Tax, Public Health, Tobacco 0 0 Comment Read More »
San Francisco approves historic ordinance to ban tobacco use in county, city ballparks The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance against tobacco on Tuesday, prohibiting the use of all tobacco products at baseball venues within the county and city. The measure, which includes smokeless tobacco products in its ban, was passed with unanimous approval. It would affect both players and fans at ballparks and athletic fields — including AT&T Park — and take effect on January 1, 2016. However, it first needs final approval from the Board of Supervisors and a signature from Mayor Ed Lee. The final vote is ... April 23, 2015 General Public Health, Tobacco, Advocacy 0 0 Comment Read More »
Study finds sharp rise in the use of e-cigarettes among young people A new study has found that 4.6 million young people — a quarter of all high school students and nearly 8 percent of middle school students —used tobacco in some form last year. According to the study, there was a decline in the numbers of high school students smoking cigarettes (from 16 percent to 9 percent), as well as a decline in the use of cigars and pipes. However, the study found that there was a substantial increase in the use of e-cigarettes (9.4 percent) and hookah pipes (13.4 ... April 23, 2015 General Public Health, Tobacco, Electronic Cigarettes 0 0 Comment Read More »
Polio survivors gather with Senator Dr. Richard Pan to reinforce the need for SB 277 before bill passed through Education Committee Standing one room away from an antique iron lung, a historic medical device once used to help polio patients breathe, survivors of the once widespread disease urged parents on Tuesday to get their children vaccinated in order to avoid suffering from completely preventable diseases. The polio survivors surrounded Senator Richard Pan, M.D., who authored Senate Bill 277, which would require most children enrolled in school to be immunized from highly infectious diseases. They joined together at the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society’s Museum of Medical History to speak on the ... April 23, 2015 General Public Health, State Legislation, State Legislative Advocacy, Vaccination, Immunization 0 0 Comment Read More »
Senate Bill 277 clears Senate Education Committee Sacramento – Senate Bill 277 (Pan/Allen) cleared the Senate Education Committee today with a 7-2 vote. The bill will now move on to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This is a huge step forward for public health and the safety of our schools and communities,” said Luther Cobb, M.D., California Medical Association president. “Vaccinations are a proven method to prevent many illnesses and SB 277 will ensure more kids are protected against these diseases.” SB 277 will remove the Personal Belief Exemption (PBE) option from the school and child care enrollment requirements. ... April 23, 2015 General Immunization, Public Health, State Legislation, State Legislative Advocacy, Vaccination, I Heart Immunity 0 0 Comment Read More »
On 60th anniversary of polio vaccine, physicians support bill to expand vaccines Senate Bill 277 is built on science and will keep kids and communities safe from preventable diseases. Sacramento – As Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of Dr. Jonas Salk’s creation of a vaccine for polio, California Medical Association (CMA) President Luther Cobb, M.D., issued the following statement: “None of us practicing medicine today are old enough to have lived through the first major U.S. polio epidemic, which occurred in 1894, or the first large-scale outbreak in 1916, which resulted in 6,000 deaths. Those trends unfortunately continued, and into the 1940s ... April 14, 2015 General Immunization, Public Health, State Legislative Advocacy, Vaccination, I Heart Immunity 0 0 Comment Read More »
Save Lives California announces package of tobacco-related legislation Save Lives California, a coalition supported by the California Medical Association (CMA), joined local lawmakers at the state Capitol to announce a broad, multi-legislative effort with a single unifying goal: Saving lives from the public health threat posed by Big Tobacco. The effort revolves around five bills in the state legislature that would raise the tobacco tax by $2-per-pack (SB 591, Pan), help keep tobacco out of the hands of youth by raising the minimum age to 21 (SB 151, Hernandez), regulate e-cigarettes (SB 140, Leno), ban tobacco products in ... April 13, 2015 General Tobacco, Tobacco Tax, Legislative Advocacy, Public Health, Save Lives California 0 0 Comment Read More »
Drought may have caused record-breaking year for West Nile virus activity in California The California drought may be responsible for a record-breaking year for West Nile virus (WNV) activity in 2014, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). In 2014, California had the second-highest number of human cases of WNV since the virus first invaded California in 2003. In 2014, California recorded 801 cases of the potentially fatal disease. In 2005, CDPH detected 880 cases of WNV. The highest number of cases was in Orange County (263 cases) and the highest incidence occurred in Glenn County (35.3 cases per 100,000 population). It is ... April 10, 2015 General West Nile, Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
