On July 26th, at a community event in Long Beach, California, a mother shared her painful journey as a visually impaired patient and her efforts to protect her children. The safety and side effects of children’s vaccination, as well as the issue of individual choice, were topics that this mother had strong opinions about.
Celina Lugo stated, “Around the age of two, my left eye began to deviate inward, and I was diagnosed with strabismus, commonly known as Lazy Eye. From the age of 2 to 12, I underwent 6 surgeries, which were extremely painful and difficult for both me and my parents, but the surgeries did not truly solve the problem.”
“Doctors seemed uncertain about the cause; they just kept pushing for more surgeries. I gradually developed double vision, also known as diplopia, after the strabismus surgery,” Lugo explained. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was the only one in her class who wore glasses, but despite wearing them for years, it didn’t help.
Lugo has spent most of her life trying to address her vision problems and understand why she has experienced such conditions. “It has impacted my worldview,” she said. “I am sensitive to sunlight, and there are prominent veins in my left eye that I have tried to cover up.” About two years ago, experts at Cedars-Sinai Hospital told her that these issues would be permanent.
During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevalence of various vaccine mandates, Lugo came across a video of a man around her age who had received the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine at the age of two and developed strabismus, although such cases are rare, they shared similar medical conditions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children receive the MMR vaccine at ages 12-15 months and 4-6 years old, offering lifelong protection against measles and rubella, with immunity to mumps decreasing over time.
The CDC states that almost all unvaccinated individuals will become infected when exposed to the virus, and vaccination can effectively limit the spread and transmission of diseases. The organization stresses that children receiving the MMR vaccine is very safe; like any medication, vaccines can have side effects, but they are typically mild and self-resolving. Scientists have not found any association between the MMR vaccine and autism.
Lugo and her husband welcomed a daughter in 2017. With a family history of children with autism and her husband’s work experience at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, where he encountered many children with developmental issues, including autism, he began to question the CDC’s childhood vaccination program. After their daughter’s birth, he decided to delay her vaccinations. Initially hesitant due to the CDC’s authority, Lugo eventually agreed with her husband.
Their daughter is healthy, but the immediate consequence they faced was that she couldn’t attend public schools in California. They had to search for non-vaccination-required private schools.
Parents in California are facing increasing pressure to vaccinate their children. For children attending public and private schools, California has strict vaccination requirements: children without the necessary vaccinations documented on the blue card cannot attend school. The state Department of Education states that vaccination aims to protect public health by preventing the spread of infectious diseases within school communities.
In 2015, California passed the SB277 bill, which starting from January 2026, will no longer grant vaccine exemptions for personal beliefs and religious reasons; school exemptions for vaccine requirements will only be granted for individual medical reasons.
In 2019, California passed the SB276 bill, requiring vaccine exemptions issued by doctors to be submitted on standardized forms for approval by the California Department of Public Health to prevent exemption misuse; the California Medical Board can investigate and penalize non-compliant doctors, including fines, license suspension, or revocation; schools or educational institutions allowing unvaccinated children to attend will also face penalties.
In 2021, Lugo joined the national organization “Moms for Liberty”, co-founded by former school board members Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice, to unite, educate, and empower parents to advocate for their children’s rights against all levels of government.
In 2023, “Moms for Liberty” established a chapter in Los Angeles. In California, the organization has branches in 15 counties, including populous ones like Orange County, Riverside County, San Diego County, and San Bernardino County.
“We have built connections and obtained nationwide support to work together to protect our children and restore parental rights in California,” Lugo said. “We hope to bring back the freedom of choice to California, expand the rights to opt-out of vaccinations, so that families like mine can reduce the expensive costs of educating their children and bring California’s education system back on track.”