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Cartoon: an anti-vaccine parent with anti-vax signs and phony covid cures stands next to his child. An arrow pointing at the child reads, "personal belief exemption." The arrow pointing at the shrunken brain of the parent reads, "parenting skills exemption."

The bill Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan introduced on Monday would require all California students in grades K-12 to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 1, 2023, eliminating the personal belief exemption.

Pan's bill goes a step further than Gov. Gavin Newsom's mandate announced in the fall, which allows for personal belief exemptions.

In this era of rampant anti-science misinformation, a personal belief exemption is far too easy of an out, and it only serves to sabotage herd immunity and prolong the pandemic.

Sorry, if you really want to put yourself, your kids and others at risk, you're going to need a much better reason than "personal belief."

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