Jessica Biel Forced to Clarify Her Vaccination Stance

Actress isn't anti-vax, she's just against the California vaccine bill
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2019 12:52 PM CDT
Jessica Biel Forced to Clarify Her Vaccination Stance
Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.   (Photo by Alex Berliner/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)

Jessica Biel is not anti-vaccination. The actress was forced to clarify that after appearing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who is an anti-vaxxer—at the California statehouse Tuesday to lobby against a vaccination bill currently under consideration in the state legislature. California requires certain vaccinations in order for children to attend public or private school, unless they have a medical exemption from a doctor, CNN reports. The bill, SB 276, would instead require parents to get a form signed by an official from the State Department of Public Health in order to obtain a medical exemption for their child, Fox News reports. Facing criticism for her appearance with Kennedy, Biel took to Instagram Thursday to explain her stance on vaccinations.

"I am not against vaccinations—I support children getting vaccinations and I also support families having the right to make educated medical decisions for their children alongside their physician," Biel writes. She explains that her friends have a child with a medical condition that warrants an exemption from vaccines, and should SB 276 pass, that exemption might be in danger. "That’s why I spoke to legislators and argued against this bill," she writes. "Not because I don’t believe in vaccinations, but because I believe in giving doctors and the families they treat the ability to decide what’s best for their patients and the ability to provide that treatment." She encouraged readers to do their own research on the bill and its "intricacies." (Hundreds opposed the bill in April.)

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