Great, my elementary school is at high risk for an outbreak.
Estherar posted this over at Mainstream Parenting Resources. The LA Times just published an article that says California schools have increasing percentages of kids entering without their vaccinations.
The online article has a cool feature which lets you put in your school and find out the risk of disease outbreaks. Even though my family isn’t really affluent, we live in a pretty great area in what is for some reason one of the most reasonably priced apartments in LA. Our landlords are elderly and maybe don’t know what the current rents should be. Also, they never fix anything. The result? A charming apartment in a great neighborhood, as long as you’re willing to put up with kitchen drawers that rain sawdust into the cabinets below every time you open them. We are! Our local elementary school is considered one of the best around.
So I input our school to find out the stats:
–Four of 32 kindergartners in 2008 were exempt from vaccinations.
–The 12.5 percent exemption rate puts the school at high-risk for an outbreak, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Too bad. I don’t know if moving somewhere else in LA will fix the problem, since so many parents seem to be convinced vaccinations are bad. And according to this article, these are “well-educated parents who tend to be skeptical of mainstream beliefs.” It’s amazing to me that the word skeptical can be used in this context. These parents consider themselves the ones who are well researched and in the know. It’s very frustrating.
What will fix the problem? More of the truth getting out! I was happy when vaccinations came up on one of my online bulletin boards, and someone directed the poster over here, to our very own Rational Moms. To me, that says that what we’re doing is making a dent, even a small one. People are reading our stuff and possibly changing their minds. Maybe by the time Zack gets into kindergarten, the vaccine scare will be over.
Siamang Said,
April 8, 2009 @ 9:56 pm
Or move closer to us.
Our school:
“0 of 76 kindergartners in 2008 were exempt from vaccinations.”
I didn’t expect that myself. I’m pretty happy!
Julie Said,
April 8, 2009 @ 10:37 pm
Dangit. Shoulda’ bought that house down the street from you guys.
catgirl Said,
April 9, 2009 @ 8:34 am
It’s a shame that parents like you have to risk their kid’s safety for a good school. Unfortunately, the best schools tend to be the ones in the riches areas, which are also the areas with the most parents buying into the anti-vaccine propaganda. It’s like you have to choose between health and a good education. What a tough choice to make.
irisevelyn Said,
April 10, 2009 @ 6:30 pm
How much time do you have until Zack goes to this school?
Maybe by then there have been a few epidemics of and people actually learned again that vaccinations are actually better than kids dying from diseases. If that happens, the vaccination rates will likely go up again.
I realize that this is really cynical, unfortunately I believe that this is what it’s going to take that people stop this nonsense. Maybe we can eradicate measles and co the next time around.
corrie Said,
April 17, 2009 @ 6:12 am
As a soon to be new mom (5 more weeks unless it wants to maybe hurry up and get here a wee bit sooner) I’ve been surprised at how the whole vaccination debate hasn’t touched us – we’ve been hit by a ton of *other* parenting woo, but haven’t heard a peep from anyone about vaccines. I have to wonder if its either a) our reaction to other forms of parenting woo or b) the fact that we live in the Midwest.
However, on a refreshing note, the women’s health center I go to at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has an entire takeaway panel of “Why vaccines are good” literature. That made me happy.