It’s time to get serious about not letting people opt out of vaccinations for non-medical reasons. If you choose to participate in public schools and public society, then you have a mutual obligation to ensure medical safety to the best of your ability.
The Seattle Times has created a tool that allows parents to search the vaccination exemption rates at their neighborhood schools. At Queen Anne Elementary School, 12.9 percent of the students aren’t vaccinated; of those 29 students who aren’t vaccinated, 26 are for personal reasons, with only one child exempted for medical reasons.
And schools throughout King County have similar rates. According to a Seattle Times article, 86 schools in King and Snohomish counties have exemption rates 10 percent or higher; only 12 percent of those exemptions were for medical reasons. And some have worse rates than others, like Stillaguamish Valley School in Arlington, which has a 44-percent exemption rate, and the Vashon Island School District, where 23 percent of all kindergarteners are exempted.
Those rates are important because about 90 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated for there to be “herd immunity — the point where enough people are immunized to protect those most vulnerable to infection,” the Times explained. When more people are immune, it’s less likely for a vulnerable person to come in contact with an infectious person.
The Washington state Legislature is considering a bill this session that would eliminate the personal-belief exemption for vaccine opt-out. Rep. June Robinson (D-Everett) introduced the bill earlier this month, which mimics a proposed California bill, to require parents to vaccinate their children, unless there’s a health problem that necessitates exemption.
There are many kids who cannot get vaccines for medical reasons or those who are simply too young. Children who have not been vaccinated because of personal reasons are putting vulnerable people at risk. And childhood immunization shots often come with vaccines for other diseases, such as the MMR, which includes measles, mumps and rubella.
Not that long ago, measles was an incurable disease that killed millions of people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers it a very infectious disease. The vaccine for it is very effective, and in 2000, measles was considered eliminated from our country. But it’s still a deadly disease, killing about 100,000 people worldwide each year, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Every piece of research has indicated that vaccines are safe for the general population — and necessary. A measles outbreak is occurring, and diseases can mutate. While the measles aren’t expected to, mutations and new strains were what made this year’s flu shot so ineffective.
This isn’t a fight of one’s parental rights over another; this is a matter of public good, public health and public safety. It’s time for the Legislature and school districts to break from the herd mentality and protect all children with herd immunity.