“Now is a tough time to be taking up that fight,” said Michelle Mello, a professor of law and health policy at Stanford University, noting that anti-vaccine sentiment has drawn more attention since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.

The proposed legislation by Assembly member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry would instead require public college students under 26 to provide proof of immunization against the virus, a more palatable idea for parents uncomfortable with a vaccine that links teens to sex.