Editorial: The Newsoms should emphasize vaccines’ benefits — not fan doubts

The question is increasingly worrisome: Does Gov. Gavin Newsom appreciate the urgency of childhood vaccinations? Last year, on two different occasions, Newsom stepped in to weaken proposed legislation by state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, designed to crack down on the doctors who provided vaccine exemptions to students on medically dubious grounds — even as the nation had its worst measles outbreak since 1992.

Thankfully, Newsom ended up signing two bills that require state health officials to examine vaccine exemptions written by doctors who grant five or more medical exemptions in a year as well as exemptions in school districts with low immunization rates. Yet the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that the laws “appear stuck in bureaucratic limbo” because of confusion over the effective date of certain provisions — and that the state Department of Public Health has not stepped in to clarify what school districts should be doing. Yes it’s true that the agency is busy with coronavirus, but it had three months last year in which it could have acted.

An administration official told an editorial writer that the language of the laws shows Jan. 1, 2021, to be when they take full effect and that there was a commitment to fully implement them.

OK, but there are other reasons to worry. In a new video posted by an anti-vaccination activist, Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, told activists there should be “more conversation” about whether some vaccinations are “essential” and the head of the state Health and Human Services Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly, is “talking to integrative and functional medicine doctors who understand this.” Such doctors often claim vaccinations do more harm than good. If they have undue influence with Ghaly, that’s bad. The evidence showing the value of vaccinations is overwhelming — whatever the Newsoms think.