title: Potential effects of California's new vaccine exemption law on the prevalence and clustering of exemptions.
abstract: Exemptions from childhood immunizations required for school entry have continued to increase among California kindergartners, and exemptions show spatial clustering within the state. A 2014 change in California's school-entry vaccine exemption law requires parents filing for an exemption to submit signed documents from a health care provider. However, the evidence presented here suggests that the policy change will probably not be sufficient to reverse the growing trend in vaccine refusals.
authors.affiliation: Malia Jones is with the Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Alison Buttenheim is with the School of Nursing and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: Malia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buttenheim
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines