Edutopia - June/July 2008 - (Page 18)

HeadofClassJHealth 18 EDUTOPIA JUNE/JULY 2008 CORBIS ate last year, Jessie Grif⇒ths Monica, California, estimates that, took a notarized document because of a high proportion of what into the rural New Hampshire she calls “free-to-be-me parents” in school her three-year-old son the school district, 5 percent or more Cole attends, stating that, because of of the children at her school have not religious objections, he was not up-toreceived all their mandated vaccinadate on his vaccines. Later she admittions (all of them claiming religious ted, “This is not actually the truth.” exemption). “We try to reassure parCole had suffered a series of seients, but parents do their own rezures days after receiving his measles, search,” Cano says. “School nurses are mumps, and rubella vaccines that always worried.” alarmed Grif⇒ths enough for her to Worried for good reason, says Rodestop all future vaccinations. She could wald. If parents who opt out of vachave sought a medical note from her cines assume they are putting no one son’s doctor, but she decided it would but their own child at risk, the reality be easier just to take the religious exis more complex. All vaccines have emption that every state except Missome small failure rate, meaning cersissippi and West Virginia allows— tain children who have been immuoften with no questions asked. nized against something like measles Across the country, a small but are still at risk—a risk that only rises growing number of parents are doing if they are going to school with other the same thing. A 2006 survey from potential carriers. the Journal of the American Medical “If a vaccine is 95 percent effective, Association found that the number of and you have a lunchroom full of 300 parents exempting their children from kids, that means 15 of them are sussome or all of their state’s required ceptible, even if they have all been vaccines, for any stated reason, grew vaccinated,” says Rodewald. An inAs more parents refuse vaccines for by 6 percent per year between 1991 creasingly mobile society also means their kids, health ofﬁcials worry. and 2004. All anecdotal evidence sugmore people are traveling to and from gests their ranks have continued to developing nations, and the risk rises By Andrea Orr grow since then. even more. A 2005 measles outbreak Certain religious groups, such as the Amish, often choose not to vac- in Indiana began when one young girl who had not been immunized cinate, and other people, like Grif⇒ths’ son, suffer serious side effects. caught the measles during a trip to an orphanage in Romania. About 30 But health of⇒cials believe that many of the parents opting out today people in the community eventually came down with measles. are doing so out of fear that the vaccines may contribute to other con“I’m concerned when even one kid isn’t vaccinated,” says Cindy Lovell, ditions such as autism, a link long suspected but repeatedly refuted in school nurse at Midvale Elementary School, in Madison, Wisconsin. Havscienti⇒c research. ing read much of the scienti⇒c research, Lovell remains convinced the It’s easy to overlook these thousands of parents who opt out of bene⇒ts vaccines provide to the public health outweigh any risks. vaccinations for hepatitis A and B, poBut more and more parents who are lio, chicken pox, whooping cough, and skeptical of that research are turning other illnesses among the millions who to groups such as the National Vacvaccinate right on schedule. Indeed, cine Information Center, in Vienna, overall immunization coverage has risen steadily across the United Virginia, which continues to explore possible hazards of vaccines and States for many years. educates people to make their own decisions. The group’s cofounder, But Lance Rodewald, who directs the Immunization Services Divi- Barbara Loe Fisher, argues that our concerns must go beyond the good sion at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of the “herd.” says he suspects there are already areas within the country where large “I believe you cannot separate individual health from public health,” numbers of parents taking exemptions have caused compliance to fall she says. “We are at a point where 1 in 5 children is learning disabled. below 90 percent, a level generally considered a good measure of “herd We cannot say our public health is being served.” e immunity.” Abstention is especially high in the Western states. Sandy Cano, school nurse at John Muir Elementary School, in Santa Andrea Orr is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. L IMMUNITY GAP “I believe you cannot separate individual health from public health.”

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - June/July 2008

Edutopia - June/July 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design Young Minds, Fast Times Wii Love Learning No More Pencils, No More Books Tech Without Support All the Right Moves Room to Learn Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin

Edutopia - June/July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.