Washington State is proposing a bill to ban vaccine exemptions amid a growing measles outbreak.
There are 18 states, including Washington, that allow families to skip the protective shots for philosophical or personal reasons.
But health officials say the spread - with 56 cases confirmed in the Pacific Northwest - have reached epidemic levels that warrant declaring a state of emergency.
Now, Monica Stonier, state representative of Clark County, which has 51 cases and 13 more suspected cases alone, is sponsoring a bipartisan bill that she hopes will curb rates.
The bill would have 'every child at every public and private school in the state and licensed day care center' receive the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine unless they have a legitimate medical or religious reason not to.
Health officials say the spread - with 56 cases confirmed in the Pacific Northwest - have reached epidemic levels that warrant declaring a state of emergency
'Right now, my city is the hotbed for this outbreak,' Stonier told CBS.
'It certainly has reached a critical state in my county.'
Stonier said 78 percent of under 18-year-olds are vaccinated in Clark County, which neighbors Portland, Oregon - at least 10 percent lower than the ideal.
Anti-vaccination movements have grown across the country in the last decade, prompting panic from the medical community and fiery hit-backs from parents who say they do not trust the medicine.
People infected with the virus have visited several locations in the Portland-Vancouver area including elementary and high schools, parks, churches, urgent care facilities, a Costco and an IKEA.
Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus.
When someone with measles coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets are sprayed into the air, where other people can inhale them and are then infected.
Symptoms present themselves between 10 to 14 days after infection and include fever, cough, runny nose and a total-body skin rash.
