Jim Carrey Goes On Twitter Rant About California's New Vaccine Law

Jim Carrey took to Twitter to speak out against California's new law mandating school vaccinations. 

On Monday, state lawmakers passed the bill striking down California's personal belief exemption for immunizations  with a 24-14 vote, The Associated Press reported. Children must be vaccinated by kindergarten and seventh grade. Those with medical exemptions can go unvaccinated, but personal belief exemptions will not be accepted.

Carrey posted series of tweets that advanced the notion that vaccines contain mercury in the form of thimerosal. (The Centers for Disease Control states that vaccines distributed in the U.S. do not contain thimerosal, which was "removed or reduced to trace amounts" as a precaution between 1999 and 2001 in all childhood vaccines, other than some flu vaccines.)

Carrey's ex, Jenny McCarthy, has been at the center of the anti-vaccine debate since a 2009 Time magazine interview during which she discussed her views on a possible link between vaccines and autism .  McCarthy's 13-year-old son, Evan, was diagnosed with autism in 2005. Last year, she said she is not anti-vaccine , but rather wants the public to demand safety. 

The CDC has conducted multiple studies that have failed to demonstrate a link between autism and vaccinations .  

Democratic state senators Richard Pan of Sacramento and Ben Allen of Santa Monica introduced the legislation in California after an outbreak of measles at Disneyland last year spread to more than 100 people, per AP. Parents who do not want to vaccinate their kids can try to get medical exemptions or homeschool them.