A shot in the arm for the community

With a new state law eliminating personal belief exemptions, there is no excuse to not vaccinate children against harmful, communicable disease.|

“Vaccinate your kids.” That is the message that California lawmakers recently sent after passing a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown signed eliminating so-called personal-belief exemptions. Parents were increasingly using those exemptions in pockets of the state, including Petaluma, to opt out of vaccinating their children against communicable, dangerous diseases.

Starting in 2016, children will not be allowed to attend school - public or private - or daycare if they are not vaccinated. Homeschooling, or obtaining a medical waiver are the only options for parents who are opposed to vaccines.

The new law was prompted by a measles outbreak this past spring linked to Disneyland that sickened more than 100 people. Many of the ill were children from affluent California suburbs where the vaccination rates have become dangerously low - in some cases below the threshold that immunologists say is needed to protect an entire community from disease.

The message that lawmakers, backed by the medical community, have sent is not unlike, “Wear your seatbelt.” While no one likes to be told how to conduct their personal life, especially by the government, the new mandatory vaccination policy is more analogous to the law banning smoking in public places, which is designed to protect others from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children not only put their own children at risk of disease, but they also increase the risk of an outbreak in which hundreds or thousands of people could become sick. Children with legitimate medical reasons for remaining unvaccinated are also at risk when others object to vaccines because of personal beliefs.

To achieve the so-called herd immunity for a disease like the measles, immunologists say between 92 and 94 percent of a community must be vaccinated. According to data from several Petaluma schools, the vaccination rates for kindergarteners here is shockingly low - 85 percent for Petaluma City Schools, 71 percent for Wilson Elementary and just 33 percent for Live Oak Charter School.

Many parents who have used personal-belief exemptions to sidestep their vaccination responsibility claim that vaccines are unsafe, despite overwhelming medical evidence to the contrary. A singular study that claimed to find a link between vaccines and autism has since been proven false.

Now, without personal-belief exemptions, parents have no excuse for not vaccinating their children. We may see a cottage industry of holistic medical practitioners who offer parents medical waivers for vaccines the way some doctors prescribe medical marijuana for specious ailments. If this happens, we hope the legislature regulates this practice so that the new law remains an effective tool to combat the spread of disease.

Even if loopholes exist, parents should do the right thing and protect their children and the rest of the community from disease. Please, vaccinate your kids.

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