Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, is sponsoring HB221, which would preserve parents' rights to exempt their children from immunizations but would require those parents to watch an educational video to receive the exemption.
Rep. Moss says that the 15- to 20-minute video is meant to teach parents what to do in the case of an outbreak and standardize education across local health departments. She says that officials in some areas of Utah are reporting that those areas are close to losing herd immunity, in which everyone is protected indirectly from infectious disease because a great majority of the population is immune to infection.
Gayle Ruzicka, President of the Utah Eagle Forum is opposing HB221.
We’ll talk with Rep. Moss, Gayle Ruzicka, and two nurse practitioners, Lacey Eden and Beth Luthy.