Jessica Biel Slammed For Fighting Against Child Vaccination
Jun. 13 2019, Updated 10:15 a.m. ET
Jessica Biel is getting blasted for her views against child vaccination.
On Tuesday, June 11, the actress who is married to pop star Justin Timberlake appeared with famed Camelot son and anti-vaccine crusader Robert Kennedy Jr. at the California State Assembly.
The two lobbied against SB 276, a California state bill that would limit medical exemptions from vaccinations without approval from a state public health officer, according to The Daily Beast.
Biel, 37, has joined such stars as Jenny McCarthy and Kristin Cavallari in the anti-vaccination movement.
McCarthy, however, later tried to clarify her views on vaccines.
Leah Russin, executive director of Vaccinate California, who co-sponsored the bill, slammed Biel's activism, saying, “A Hollywood celebrity…should not have credibility on an issue about how to regulate the medical profession, when an overwhelming number of medical professionals support this bill. It’s the Jenny McCarthy show all over again.”
Kennedy, the namesake son of the beloved Democrat Presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1968, is an environmental activist who has long claimed that vaccines aren't safe and can cause autism in children.
He called Biel "courageous" to appear with him before the state assembly.
Rumors flew in 2015 that Biel and her husband Timberlake, did not plan to vaccinate their son Silas, now 4.
But she's never publicly commented on the vaccination controversy before – so her Tuesday lobbying against it caused shock.
Kennedy told The Daily Beast that The Sinner star was “upset about this issue because of its particular cruelty.”
He added, “I would say that she was for safe vaccines and for medical freedom.”
Biel and Kennedy believe bureaucratic “red tape” would force kids to receive vaccinations.
Kennedy said, “The biggest problem with the bill, which is something I think Jessica is concerned with is that a doctor who has made a determination—if he has found children in this state whose doctors have determined that they’re too fragile to receive vaccinations—this bill would overrule the doctors and force them to be vaccinated anyways.”
He praised Biel as “a very effective advocate. She was very strong and very knowledgeable….She has friends who have been vaccine-injured who would be forced to leave the state.”
But Russin said, “The children who need medical exemptions will not have a problem getting them if SB 276 becomes law….Medical advice should be coming from medical professionals.”
Kennedy and Biel huddled with CA Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, who opposes the bill.
It's not the first time an anti-vaccination star has been attacked.
In 2014, fans were outraged when Cavallari and her husband Jay Cutler said they aren't vaccinating their children.
The former The Hills star said on social media that she had “read too many books about autism and the studies.”
Under public pressure, Cavallari wrote, “That’s all I’m saying on this matter. We will never all agree.”