TOPEKA | Turn out the lights, the party's over for a bill allowing parents to get their kids out of mandatory shots for school on the grounds of personal conscience.

State Rep. Brenda Landwehr, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, told PrimeBuzz that she doesn't intend to work the bill.

Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, said she didn't sense a lot of support for the bill in her committee.

A couple weeks ago, Landwehr's committee held a spirited hearing that pitted parents wanting the freedom to make decisions on behalf of their children against public health advocates who contend that mandatory shots are vital to stemming the spread of disease.

The hearing brought out dozens of parents -- many wearing green T-shirts reading “Kansans for Vaccine Rights” — to implore lawmakers to allow them to get their kids out of mandatory shots for school on the grounds of personal conscience.

The proposed law would have expanded the current exemptions, which allow parents to opt out of mandatory immunizations if they jeopardize a child’s life or for religious reasons.

But state health officials told legislators that mandatory vaccine laws are critical to stopping the spread of disease.

They noted that there are at least 14 studies showing that so-called personal belief exemptions increase the risk of disease outbreaks.