Back To School Time Is Vaccination Time
“Some people are more susceptible than others to injury or death from vaccines…But it’s not clear who is at higher risk”
When kids start school this fall, it’s a sure bet that some won’t have had their recommended vaccines because their parents have claimed exemptions from school requirements for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. Following the much publicized outbreak of measles that started in Disneyland in California last December, these exemptions have drawn increased scrutiny.
That outbreak, which eventually infected 147 people in seven states, was a wake-up call for many parents, who may not have realized how contagious or serious the disease can be, and for states as well, say public health officials.
In addition, research shows that eliminating vaccine exemptions or making them harder to get can improve vaccination rates and reduce disease outbreaks.
California and Vermont passed laws this year eliminating exemptions in 2016 for philosophical reasons; California’s law eliminates religious exemptions as well.
“All states have laws or policies requiring that children be up-to-date on recommended vaccines”
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides suggested vaccination schedules for children and adults, but there’s no federal requirement that parents vaccinate their children. All states, however, have laws or policies requiring that children be up-to-date on recommended vaccines in order to attend school or day care. Unvaccinated children can generally attend only if their parents have obtained a vaccination exemption approved by the states.
Every state allows medical exemptions for children whose immune systems are compromised. Nearly all states allow exemptions from vaccinations because of religious beliefs; excluding California and Vermont, 18 permit exemptions because of parents’ personal or philosophical convictions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Just three states–West Virginia, Mississippi and now, California–allow vaccine exemptions only for medical reasons.
In recent years, exemption rates for children have soared, but they vary. On the low end, New Mexico’s rate was less than half a percent in 2012, while the top state rate was Oregon’s at 6.5 percent, according to a study this month in the journal Health Affairs.
Local rates may be much higher, though. There are pockets in California and Colorado, for example, where the exemption rates top 30 percent, says L.J Tan, chief strategy officer at the Immunization Action Coalition, an advocacy group that works to increase immunization rates.
But since in most places the percentage of children getting the recommended vaccines tops 90 percent for most diseases, many parents have never seen someone with measles, for example, or whooping cough and may not understand their dangers.
“In the absence of disease the alleged risks of the vaccine become easier to sell,” says Tan.
Those risks are real, says Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that advocates that people be able to decline mandatory vaccinesbased on their philosophical or personal beliefs. Fisher testified before the California State Assembly against the new law, which takes effect next July.
Read more about back to school vaccines via CNN.
