Thousands of Oregon children would have to get vaccinated or stay out of school under a bill being prepared by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland.

The proposal comes amid a measles outbreak that has infected 52 children in Clark County and has spread to Oregon, where four people have been infected.

Greenlick’s bill, which is still being finalized, would eliminate non-medical exemptions for unvaccinated school children. The goal, Greenlick said, is to protect those children who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons.

“People have a right to make bad decisions about the healthcare of their children,” Greenlick said. “But that does not give them the right to send unprotected children into their school.”

At least 93 percent of children must be vaccinated to prevent outbreaks. One in five Oregon schools have measles vaccination rates below that threshold, according Oregon Health Authority data, with rates at some schools as low as 30 percent.

About 15,500 Oregon school children have non-medical exemptions for all vaccines, according to state data. Under the lawmaker’s proposal, those kids would have to either get vaccinated or be home-schooled, Greenlick said.

Opposition could be stiff. A similar proposal in 2015 was abandoned following pressure from opponents. In Washington on Friday, hundreds protested a bill that would eliminate personal and philosophical exemptions to vaccines. And Greenlick has already received many calls from people accusing him of trying to restrict their freedoms, he said.

Greenlick blamed the opposition on scientific illiteracy and said it would not stop him from pursuing the bill. And he said he hoped his colleagues in the legislature would be on board.

“I’ll just ask them to think carefully about it and to think about Vancouver,” he said. “We’ll try rationality.”

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.