Earlier this week actress Jessica Biel ignited controversy after meeting with anti-vaccination advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and California lawmakers to challenge SB 276, a bill that seeks to limit medical exemptions from vaccinations in the state. (The bill is much opposed by anti-vaxxers, as it essentially makes it harder for parents to avoid vaccinating their children, requiring them to do so before enrolling them in both public and private schools.)
Biel is hardly the first celebrity to oppose vaccinations. Kristin Cavallari, Jenny McCarthy, and Kat Von D have all spoken out about against vaccinations (McCarthy actually believes it’s what caused her son’s autism). But today, after much public outcry, Biel took to her social media platform to clarify that she is not necessarily against vaccinations entirely but wants to preserve a parent’s choice to do so or not. “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 physicians,” Biel wrote on Instagram. She erroneously referred to the bill as SB 277.
“My dearest friends have a child with a medical condition that warrants an exemption from vaccinations, and should this bill pass, it would greatly affect their family’s ability to care for their child in this state,” she continued. “That’s why I spoke to legislators and argued against this bill. 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.” The problem for vaccination activists is, of course, that a parent deciding not to vaccinate their child affects all children—see recent breakouts in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
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Despite the drama Biel and husband Justin Timberlake enjoyed a date night (because nothing works up an appetite like pissing off the public). Last night the pair headed out to a party for musician Dallas Austin at Sadelle’s in New York City. (Timberlake has yet to comment on the matter himself.) Emerging from the dinner they seemed perfectly content.
The couple currently share a son, Silas, who is four years old. They have yet to publicly comment on if he has been vaccinated or not. Jezebel reported that a legislative staffer who witnessed the meeting between Kennedy and Biel “wrote that, in the meeting, Biel said she personally didn’t go by the regular vaccine schedule for her child, due to a perception that a friend’s child had suffered negative health consequences from a vaccine.” A 2018 study concluded that cases of measles worldwide have soared up 30 percent in response to the trend of anti-vaccination. In the U.S. alone outbreaks have also been the worst in more than 25 years, with almost 1,000 cases reported.