Maine Families for Vaccines said Wednesday it has received broad, grassroots support for its opposition to a peoples’ veto campaign to overturn a law that eliminates philosophical and religious exemptions for childhood vaccinations.

The group has received nearly $60,000 through the fourth quarter of last year toward its campaign to defeat Question 1 on March 3, Maine Families for Vaccines said in a news release Wednesday.

The group’s PAC has received just over $58,000 in contributions and loans, according to the Maine Ethics Commission Campaign Finance website. Top donors include the Maine Hospital Association with $25,000, Maine Academy of Family Physicians, $4,999, Maine Medical Association, $3,712, and Maine Hospital Association, $1,346.

Maine Families for Vaccines contends that parents who refuse to vaccinate their children put vulnerable children at risk for contracting deadly diseases.

“We are pleased by the tremendous grassroots support we’ve received from Mainers who oppose Question 1,” the campaign’s co-chair, Dr. Laura Blaisdell, said in a news release. “With more than 270 individual donations from Maine citizens and the support of our growing coalition, we are confident voters will reject Question 1 and protect Maine’s children from dangerous diseases.”

Mainers for Health and Parental Rights, which believes the new law violates an individual’s right to informed consent, pushed to get Question 1 on the ballot.

The PAC that opposes the law, Mainers for Health and Parental Rights, has not yet filed – it had until midnight Wednesday to do so.

 

 

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