Jessica Biel is the latest high-profile celebrity to support the movement, joining the ranks of stars like and .
The actor was photographed with anti-vaxx activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday, where the pair were seen lobbying lawmakers together at the California State House.
Biel and Kennedy met with some 15 legislators about the SB 276 bill, a new California state bill that would limit medical exemptions from vaccinations without state public health officer approval. If passed, it's believed that the bill would reduce medical exemptions by as much as 40 per cent.
While the mother-of-one has yet to comment publicly about the meeting, Kennedy has posted a series of photographs on Instagram of the two posing together.
"Please say thank you to the courageous for a busy and productive day at the California State House," writes Kennedy on one post.
Kennedy is the founder of , an organisation known for making claims that vaccines for "medically fragile children" are unsafe.
In an interview with , Kennedy calls Biel an "effective advocate". He also declines to apply the label of 'anti-vaxxer' to the actress, saying instead that "she was for safe vaccines and for medical freedom”.
“She was very strong and very knowledgeable," says Kennedy, "Extremely well-informed. An extremely effective advocate. She knows what she’s talking about…She’s upset about this issue because of its particular cruelty. She has friends who have been vaccine-injured who would be forced to leave the state.”
There were that claimed Biel and husband, pop star Justin Timberlake, did not plan to vaccinate their son Silas.
Biel's latest show of support for the anti-vaxx movement attracted swift criticisms on social media.
Vaccination advocates and sponsors of the bill explain that it would not prevent children with health conditions to apply for medical exemptions.
“The children who need medical exemptions will not have a problem getting them if SB 276 becomes law,” Leah Russin, executive director of Vaccinate California tells The Daily Beast, “People who are on immuno-suppressant drugs will not have a problem getting a medical exemption—and in fact, the people who truly need medical exemptions desperately need everyone else to be vaccinated."
"That’s why they support this bill. Medical advice should be coming from medical professionals.”
