The minority leader of the Arizona House, Eric Meyer, thinks Arizona should follow the lead of California and begin action to repeal the state’s personal exemption for vaccinations, in the wake of the growing measles epidemic. 

Meyer, a former emergency room doctor in Oregon, thinks one way to solve the problem would be to provide free, or nearly free, vaccinations for everybody,

“As a society, you know we’re spending more on treating the disease than we would have probably had to spent just to give the immunizations,” Meyer said.

Meyer is skeptical a bill to repeal the personal exemption could be approved this session, saying while there would be opposition to the repeal in the Legislature, it would be misplaced opposition. 

Meyer said the personal exemption is a public health threat, especially to those most vulnerable to the disease.