From January through October 4 of last year, the CDC confirmed 1,249 cases of measles in the United States, the highest rate since 1992. The country managed to maintain its measles elimination status, though we very nearly lost it. In July, a law that ended the “personal and/or philosophical exemption” for the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella), went into effect in Washington State. The Seattle Public Schools district has given parents a January deadline to get their children vaccinated:
Seattle Public Schools are giving their students until Jan. 8 to get up to date with their vaccines or they will not be allowed to return to class.
On Dec. 20, the city school system announced that in order to be in compliance with Washington state law, “student records must reflect updated immunization status by January 8, 2020, or students cannot attend school until the required information is provided to the school nurse.” . . .
[A spokesperson for the district] said that there are about 2,000 students that currently need updated immunization records to return to class.
The school system reportedly sent out an email and postal letter to parents notifying them about the new rule, and are hosting free immunization clinics throughout the break to help students and their families get in compliance.
Anyone who is unvaccinated who comes to school will be “held aside,” and those absences will be counted as “unexcused.” Once a child gets vaccinated, the absences will be excused.
I’m glad that Washington passed the law, and I’m glad that Seattle’s public schools have implemented it while also setting up clinics and making it easier for parents to get their children vaccinated. I have no time for anyone who spouts conspiracy theories about vaccines, and there are plenty of folks who still believe that vaccines cause autism, to which I say, “They don’t,” and also, “Your ableism is showing.”
People also don’t realize that herd immunity is important for the safety and health of people who can’t get vaccinated. I couldn’t get the MMR vaccine on-schedule because of some health issues that I had when I was an infant. (I got it eventually.) I am so grateful that I didn’t get measles, mumps, or rubella. Maybe I didn’t come into contact with anyone who had those diseases (because they were vaccinated!) but I’m sure herd immunity played some part in that. I wish people would consult with their doctors and talk about their fears. Spreading out the vaccines on doctor’s orders is one thing. Ignoring them all together is something else.
Photos are stock photos from Pixabay, VisionPic and Pragyan Bezbaruah via Pexels
I read a horrifying article awhile ago where a lot of these anti-vaxx loonies basically didn’t seem to understand measles is different from chicken pox so… That’s what we’re dealing with here. This is a good call.
Which is ironic since generally anti-vaxxers are college educated people. You would think immigrants or the uneducated would believe this baloney but no, there’s a high participation in vaccinations from that group. It’s the ones who are educated and should know better, who are the problem here.
I read this from a newspaper article a few years ago so I’m not making that up about the profile of anti vaxxers.
Why do you think immigrants would “believe this baloney”? Many immigrants are well-educated people who come from countries that have high vaccination rates.
Why would one think that about immigrants? Yikes. What a thing to say.
Where are you getting your info on anti vaxxers being college educated? Sometime check out the reddit r/vaxxhappened. The posts don’t seem to be from highly intelligent people to me.
Lots of other countries have better vaccination rates than the US.
Why do you equate immigrants with the uneducated people. Many immigrants are highly skilled and highly educated but are not credited for their professions under the Canadian and American systems. Immigrants are also people that respect and value medical here that was not always available or accessible in their home countries.
My own personal experience (and that of other family members) is that we got vaccinated as soon as we arrived in the US as getting them here was so much more readily available.
You should check your biases
Boomers that I work with say, “I had measles and it wasn’t so bad,” and “last time I got the flu vaccine, I got the flu right after.”
A lot of people use anecdotal evidence as fact and it’s maddening.
It’s unlikely that a boomer would say that. The generation of boomers was at the tail end of the polio epidemic and were absolutely grateful for vaccines. There was no vaccine for measles at that time which is why boomers know how sick and miserable people got with measles and mumps. There was no chicken pox vaccine at that time either. The generation of boomers were the first to be able to vaccinate their children against these diseases. There was no stupid talk of vaccines making you sick because they knew 1st hand what the diseases do.There was no silly anti vax talk till at least the 90’s. As to the flu vaccine, there are a lot of people who don’t understand the difference between the cold and flu.
Chiming in to agree with Joanne. That whole generation saw first hand the difference vaccines made and the suffering that occurred without them. Anecdotally, my grandma (101) says that whooping cough in a child is the worst sound you could ever hear.
Frick yeah, Seattle!
I’m very proud of my adopted state. We are Seattle adjacent and are required to get the MMR for our kids too. My nephew just passed away from an infection due to his compromised immune system from Leukemia. He hadn’t done anything yet. No first kiss, no prom, nothing. Anti-vaxxers burn me the F up.
I’m so sorry for your loss. xx
Because these diseases haven’t been around for awhile, people forget how horrible/dangerous they are and what the treatments actually are.(the treatments are not a walk in the park) Quite frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long.
Also, studies have shown that having measles can permanently mess with your immune system. In a sense erasing a lot of the immunity you have developed to other things. It can also cause brain damage. It’s not just the fun harmless rash that measles proponents (blech) claim it is.
If I was an immunocompromised person or had an immunosuppressed loved one, or had a baby child too young for the MMR, I would seriously be worrying every time I went through, say, an airport or other crowded public setting — because measles is one of the most contagious viruses on earth. Every week there are new news reports warning people that they may have been exposed at various places. Life is hard enough without having to worry about a disease that should be pretty much ERADICATED.
I ♡ living in a progressive city like Seattle.
Good. I hope more districts in more places follow suit.
It’s good. Really. But I’m really wondering what it will take for these anti vaxx to understand that what they are (not) doing is dangerous (for them, their families and the whole world) ??
Do they lack education, are they convinced of some ideology?
I stopped following a vegan blogger because she doesn’t vaccinate her kids, and it seems her community believes in the same stupidity. This lack of scientific trust is alarming.
I think it’s the same reason people believe the earth is flat.
They’re so convinced that they’re privy to some sort of ‘special’ knowledge, or level of intelligence that they HAVE to be right. The arrogance level is definitely high with a lot of these people. I’ll cut some slack to the ones who have been misinformed and who will listen to reason after seeing proper evidence, but most are so dead-set in their ways.
But look at Andrew Wakefield himself. His dad was a neurosugeon, his mom was a GP, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He’s not uneducated in the slightest. But it wasn’t until 2010 that “the UK’s General Medical Council found him guilty of dishonesty, the “abuse” of developmentally delayed children by giving them unnecessary and invasive medical procedures, and acting without ethical approval for his research.”
He’s literally abused developmentally delayed children. I don’t understand how ANYONE anti-vaxx or not, can support a man who’s done such horrible horrible things.
Erinn, thank you for this recommandation, i will look this guy up tonight!
Wondering where people get a distrust for the pharmaceutical industry is funny to me. I don’t agree with anti-vaxxers, but wondering how we got to a place where people distrust the pharmaceutical companies with their children’s health is just ignoring a lot of people’s valid experiences. We, as a society, should start there & work to build back the trust. People don’t not vaccinate their kids to give the herd the middle finger, they don’t vaccinate because they are scared of the vaccines & they don’t trust the company who makes them. And the distrust & fear did not just come from the hack Wakefield, although that’s the only talking point people want to give attention to.
If the arguments here are that educated & smart people are concerned about vaccines, why would we just say they’re crazy, and why wouldn’t we stop. listen & think that maybe they have a valid point…..then address that point &, poof, we are in a solution and not just complaining about the problem.
What is amazing to me is that the anti-vaxx people were likely vaccinated themselves. They are living proof vaccines are safe.
MC2, maybe there is a difference between Europe (I’m french) and the US medical / scientific field?
I don’t know, I feel like the US system is way worse than what we have in Europe. Even my dad and his wife are saying it’s crazy the influence laboratories have in the US and that we are really far from that here. Just a thought !
@Léna, I don’t see that much differences between Europe and North America quite honestly. I mean, in many parts of Europe, homeopathy is considered a legit science (just puked in my mouth writing that), pharmas are looked upon because of how big and rich they are, but no one wonders how the heck companies make billions selling flour and sugar pills (which is really what homeopathy medications are). And France has had one of the lowest vaccination rate amongst developed countries for more than a decade because of skepticism towards vaccination; I’d say the influence of crooked snake oil vendors is going strong even when you have free access to evidence-based medicine.
Wakefield was a UK medical doctor who wanted to patent his own version of the measles vaccine and thus had financial incentives to get rid of the Merck’s version. He was working as an “expert” for a law firm that wanted to sue Merck claiming that their vaccine was dangerous (which would have cleared the way for his version of the vaccine) and in order to prove the the MMR vaccine was dangerous, he doctored all the patients’ cases in his case study. The date where symptoms started were changed, symptoms became more pronounced and when the Lancet paper was shown to the studied kids’ parents, even they were flabbergasted because nothing they read was true. Yet, somehow, anti-vaxxers still want to believe that Wakefield was right… I think many people love a good conspiracy theory (and most don’t have an understanding of basic science), but ultimately, when you follow the money, you realize how profitable the anti-vax movement is to some people.
MC2, parents might not trust the pharmaceutical industry, but when it comes to matters this serious it is a parent’s responsibility to follow the facts of the matter and not just emotional response. Unless there is proof that the companies are doing dangerous things with the vaccines (there isn’t), then it is irresponsible to let irrational fear make the decision.
Good for them, the kids deserve better.
When my kids where babies…about 10 years ago, I didn’t vaccinate get some them for a few years because I read all this info from anti-vaxxers that was so scary and I bought into it. I did finally do research and thought “why am I taking the word of the Jenny McCarthy’s of the world rather than doctors?” And got my kids fully vaccinated. When you’re a new parent..scare tactics can work unfortunately
Thank you for being open-minded enough to change your mind! What do you think it will take to get others to do the same?
It’s completely scary, though. My daughters were vaccinated on time, but I was worried with my son because he had some sensory issues. The dr. suggested we split the vaccine into its 3 parts and spread it over a few months. I did that, and he received the complete vaccine by 2 1/2. He had no reaction, and he got his booster shots on time. The people who spread the anti vaccine message prey on parental fears. Looking back, this was 12 years ago, I was probably an idiot, but the fear was real.
I am 100% pro-vaccination. I have read the studies, I do not in any way believe that they are harmful and I believe in getting them on the schedule recommended by your doctor. I never for a moment considered not vaccinating, Despite all that, when my baby had her first vaccination I still found myself feeling nervous about what could happen. Scare tactics (especially combined with sleep deprivation and crazy hormones) are no joke! Unfortunately, we’ve gotten to a space where people trust garbage they can read on the internet more than experts. The “fake news” era is only making this worse. It’s scary.
Same, I was determined to protect my son and vaccinated on time, but it was scary too. I was really worried about side effects.
Not vaccinating your child is child abuse, and the parents should be charged. In Samoa recently, over 70 people died (mostly innocent children) in the latest measles outbreak. On the one hand, I could look at this as a form of Darwinism. But is it really fair for the children to pay the price for their parents’ stupidity? I can only hope school districts everywhere follow Seattle.
Thank you! A child can’t consent to not be vaccinated. We put kids in car seats, why would we not protect from diseases that used to wipe out communities?
Because some people are brick-stupid, we need seatbelt laws and vaccine ultimatums. Good.
My Mom is a public school teacher who has a class with all high functioning autism(used to be called Asperger’s) elementary school students. She is in a state where it is almost impossible for parents to get exemptions for religion. She has a fairly small class, but several parents of her students have chosen to not vaccinate their younger children and homeschool them because they have been brainwashed into thinking that vaccines are what caused their older children to have autism. It absolutely boggles my mind that people can think this way, but I suppose they have to blame something on their children having autism.
Good, it’s about time. It’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to vaccinate your kids, but keep them home 24/7 at all times no matter what so they don’t expose those who can’t be vaccinated, or those who are immunocompromised. I get that parents are just doing what they think is best for their kids, but letting them out in public is one of the most selfish dick moves they can do. Let all the unvaccinated kids live in one place and go to the same school and see how that works out without the herd immunity they claim to not rely on.
As someone who received the 1st part of the MMR vaccine as an infant and had seizures that involved hospitalization and recommendations from my Dr to not receive the booster – THANK GOD FOR HERD IMMUNITY!!! I’m 40 years old and am in serious talks with my Dr. to determine if the booster is worth it for me since they figure I’m about 90% protected anyways. Personally, I’d rather take the booster, make it an even 100%, make sure others are safe and deal with the temporary seizure activity.
Exactly, westcoast. The vast majority of people can be vaccinated with no or mild side effects. And the rate of major side effects for MMR is miniscule compared to the fatality rate and major side effects of measles. Which is why the herd needs to protect you and others who have legitimate medical reasons for not being vaccinated.
Good. Time to stop playing with people’s lives.
GOOD
Good! More places need to do this.
One of my local FB pages posted an article that involved vaccines, and I couldn’t not believe the sheer stupidity of some of the people commenting. I can understand having concerns, but then work with a good doctor, don’t turn to garbage like Info Wars for medical advice.
I feel badly for the children left exposed to diseases, and for the kids and adults who CAN’T get vaccines and are reliant on herd immunity, because man, a good portion of this herd is dumb as a box of rocks.
Bravo Seattle ~ I’ve always loved you!
100% on board with this. Completely.
I’m just waiting for one of the anti-vax lunatics to come on here and start posting their loony b8llshit.
Good for Seattle, which, notably, is home to perhaps the preeminent vaccine promoter on the planet: Bill Gates, who has spent several fortunes trying to eradicate polio and other preventable diseases in developing countries. Meanwhile, in his own country, measles and tetanus are on the rise. Remember the kid who nearly died from tetanus and his hospital bill was something like $1M+?
Yeah, the doctors urged the parents to let him give the kid a tetanus shot before being discharged.
They said no. F*cking morons. I hope the hospital declined to forgive their debt.
Thank you for talking about ableism Quimby. Far too few people talk about it and we need to educate people on it more.
Agreed. The anti-vax idiots would prefer to have a dead child than an autistic one. (I know vaccines DO NOT cause autism, but that is what *they* believe). How can anyone think a child is better off dead than autistic? Do they hate people with special needs that much?
Do you have any idea what the life expectancy is for a child with severe autism? Having an autistic child gives you a greater chance of having a dead child, too.
Way to totally miss the point, Courtney.
vaccines do not cause autism.
getting your child vaccinated can stop him/her from getting a preventable disease, and will not cause or “trigger” autism.
NOT vaccinating your child puts them at risk for contracting a preventable disease, and possibly dying.
the autism DOES NOT FIGURE INTO LIVE EXPECTANCY as it relates to vaccines. if your child is on the spectrum, and vaccinated, THEY WILL LIKELY LIVE LONGER THAN THOSE NOT VACCINATED.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaas! I can’t support this enough. Wish all school districts would do this. Any exemptions (outside of the medical ones) ate utter bull$hit. Glad some kids are safer now.
I agree with all of these sentiments and I wish that the only company that makes the vaccines would offer the MMR split up again (as they did prior to 2008, and there is no good reason that it stopped, other then profit), so kids who have fragile immune systems could get each vaccination separately, since three vaccines together at once is a concern for these kids. I am a huge proponent of vaccinations, and I also side eye the hell out of the pharmaceutical companies that won’t continue producing a product that would increase the chance of people vaccinating their kids (fast forward after they cancelled the single doses & we have an outbreak…) Both extreme sides of this issue suck, but it’s not just one sided.
You are parrotting Andrew Wakefield’s exact (fraudulent) argument (that the combined MMR vaccine causes problems that would be resolved by using monovalent Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccines), so I have trouble believing that you’re simply “concerned”.
Andrew Wakefield was and is a fraud, and his fake “research” was never reproducible, making it fraudulent.
This is complete scientific hogwash.
There’s no benefit to split the vaccine, absolutely none. Just like there’s no benefit to change the vaccination schedule, that’s not how our immune system work.
Every minute, we are bombarded with non-self elements: some are coming from our food, from dust, from other people shedding skin cells and from the microorganisms around and on us. Some of these elements are harmful, most are not and the cells composing our immune system constantly check those non-self molecules to see if they need to attack or not, if they need to attack, they’ll mount a memory against it too to be faster the next time our body meets that potentially harmful bug. It makes absolutely no difference to our immune system if we mount a response against 3 or 12 molecules, it’s already checking a 1000 other ones anyway. If one person’s system is so weak it could only deal with being exposed to one pathogen at a time, that person would die before they reach the age to get a booster shot
This is excellent news. Anti-vaxxers deserve zero tolerance.
My youngest son, who is fully vaccinated, still got the mumps at age 10 after starting Jiu Jitsu classes. Close contact with a bunch of kids 3 times a week. I like to think his case would have been much worse if he wasn’t vaccinated but i was shocked he could still get the illness he was vaccinated against.
I am fully vaccinated – but in 2015, when I was undergoing tests prior to some fertility treatments, they realized that my immunity to MMR had worn off, and I needed to get a booster. I don’t know how boosters work and when they’re needed, but I was aghast that I wasn’t protected!
That sucks. Vaccines are not 100% but the mumps one is generally about 88% protective per the CDC. That is another knock on effect of decreasing population vaccination rates–that more of the disease is circulating and leading to more exposures such that even a certain percentage of vaccinated people may become infected.
This is making my day because my husband’s cousin’s wife is the most insufferable anti-vaxxer with a tiny son who she refuses to get vaccinated and will not listen to anyone…and they literally just moved to Seattle 2 weeks ago. HAHAHA.
Schadenfreude! But in all seriousness, I hope they don’t need daycare, or music/swim lessons, or activities — it’s not just the school districts enforcing this!
The only pity about the new law is that it’s narrowly focussed on MMR. I wish they’d included all the rest (typhoid, polio, pertussis, diptheria, etc, etc)
Really hoping this becomes a trend! You don’t want to vaccinate your children, you’re gonna have to keep them home. I have asthma, so always make sure to get vaccinated for flu every year and will probably ask my doctor about an MMR booster next time I have an appt.
Creating a school for the non-vaccinated is a good idea except the children will end up being shunned by their peers for the actions of their idiotic parents.
Plus the rest of the public, including those too young or sick to have immunizations, who will have to risk exposure to measles from these non-immunized persons unless in addition to having their own schools they have their own malls, airports, theme parks….
Ummmm… the entire state of NY has required vaccination to attend school as of this past September. No more religious exemptions. It’s been quite the kerfluffle.
https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/immunization/schools/school_vaccines/
Good!
Oregon was doing this 18 years ago. I remember when I went back to grad school at Oregon State in 2002, I was required to get an MMR shot. Since I’m a boomer and had had measles (and mumps and chickenpox, but thankfully not all at the same time), I was a bit miffed at this, but I also had no proof, since I’d had the measles at six years old, causing me to miss the first three weeks of second grade. My mom, while a great record keeper, did not keep all our medical info from that long ago! Plus, I’m sure that doctor I was taken to had retired by then (or had died, I’m that old). In any case, what am I saying? Oh, yeah, Oregon did it before Seattle!
Go Oregon!!
Apparently there’s actually a blood test for immunity, a lot of teachers were able to “test out” when school districts reacted to measles cases in the towns around Seattle. If they passed, they didn’t need to get another shot.
My stepson got vaccinated as a toddler and had a horrible, immediate reaction to it – to the point where his blood turned blue, his learning abilities became regressive and everything he learned was forgotten. It took (4) years of alternative therapy (arduous and effective but not supported by science) and had made much progress, but nowadays, some things, if not many, take a long time for him to learn.
He did not get all the shots when he was young, and now he’s at risk of not being able to go to public school next year. I’m not against vaccines and most kids do not risk irreversible, terminal effects of vaccines, but if it wasn’t for therapy to restructure his neurological pathways, my stepson would have been severely disabled for life.
Washington state (where this story is about) removed personal belief/ philosophical reasons as a legal exemption to school-required MMR immunizations. Medical exemptions (a doctor certifying there are medical reasons why required immunizations are not done) are still in place. I believe all states have some form of medical exemption exceptions to school immunization requirements.
He is exempt now, but the California law has become much more strict which will take affect later this year – and may not be exempt in the near future.
The students will be under review if at the school there are fewer than 95% of the entire student body who do not have documentation for vaccines or if the doctor has issued more than 5 exemptions per year. He is at risk of being kicked out of a private school – he needs a safe environment and he loves his current school and classmates. 🙁
I think I understand where you’re coming from (though not to the same extent). My best friend’s son died from SIDS the day after receiving his vaccinations. His mother firmly believes it was the vaccines, and although I’m pro-vaccination and have vaccinated my own children since, I do believe that different bodies can have different reactions to things. I tend to think SIDS is caused by rebreathing and not vaccines, but I’m also not so close minded to think we all accept them the same way. And there’s no way I’m telling a grieving mother her theory is wrong when there’s no evidence to the contrary.
It’s sad, if she has another child there’s no way she’ll vaccinate, which terrifies me. But it terrifies her to think she’ll lose another child.
When I was a kid you couldn’t go to school unless you had the vaccines and the boosters checked before each school year began. I remember getting vax shots when I was five which I think attributed to my fear of needles. Eek.
Anyway, it’s good they are doing this, no one should have to suffer the effects of the measles.
Good, because Seattle is one of the worst areas for un-vaccinated kids and having kids there I get really nervous about the exposure. I don’t know why Seattle is more so this way; I know it’s also a city with women becoming mothers at an older age. But, I’m not really trying to draw a correlation, mainly just that it’s confused me for awhile. Many of the young moms I know are good with vaccinations and Native moms generally too. I may get trolled about my view, but we just don’t have the length of time of the diseases around, hence many of our people dying when colonizers arrived. I feel it’s especially important to Native people, even though we have to overcome our (valid) distrust of the medical field providing vaccines and other medical care.
Measles kills 1 or 2 out of every 1000 people who gets it, and leaves another 1 with permanent deafness or brain damage.
Measles is so contagious, you can catch it by walking through a room that a person with measles coughed or sneezed in up to two hours ago.
Measles makes your immune system forget how to fight off other illnesses. (e.g. If you catch chicken pox, then catch measles afterward, you might able to catch chicken pox a second time thanks to the measles.)
When I’m feeling charitable, I think anti-vaxxers just don’t realize how freakin’ dangerous measles is.