Some schools are far below "herd immunity" and are at risk of spreading measles, chicken pox, and other communicable diseases.
Health authorities consider it dangerous.
According to the Centers for Disease Control report on the complications from measles, about one in five unvaccinated people who get measles in the U.S. will require hospitalization. One in 20 children get pneumonia from measles. Over one child in 1,000 who gets measles will suffer long-term brain damage. Over one in 1,000 will die from it.
A small percentage of any large group can be unvaccinated because of "herd immunity." Unvaccinated people in the group are subject to the disease, but the likelihood of their contracting it is small because others in the group are immune so they don't spread it to the vulnerable ones. The Oregon Health Authority targets a 95% vaccination rate as the minimum to provide "herd immunity."
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| Oregon Health Authority/Oregonlive.com |
Southern Oregon has clusters of people in two different types of communities where parents are opting out at rates above these averages. One of them is college-town, upscale Ashland, a bastion of Democratic voters. Here is a political snapshot of Ashland, measured by The New York Times' "Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election."
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| Ashland |
Another hotspot of vaccination refusal is a very different community, rural Josephine County, a bastion of conservative, don't-tread-on-me, Trump supporters.
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| Rural Josephine County |
Only a very small number of students are immunized at public charter schools in liberal Ashland. Ashland's Siskiyou School, a private school, has only 45% vaccinated for measles, and only 35% fully vaccinated. The Ashland Public School District's Trail Outdoor School has 63% vaccinated for measles and 54% with the full vaccination. Only 45% of the students are immunized for measles at the Woodland public charter school in Josephine County (located within the red map above) and only 40% have full immunization.
It isn't just charter schools. We see significant vaccine resistance in traditional public schools. In Applegate Elementary School serving an area south of the city of Grants Pass only 76% of its students are vaccinated for measles; only 70% are fully vaccinated. Josephine County's Illinois Valley High School has a measles vaccination rate of 85% and full vaccination rate of 79%. Resistance in rural Josephine County fits a well-established profile of community members suspicious of government. By popular choice the rural county lacks a public fire department and it votes against paying for sheriff patrols. Opposition to Covid vaccinations found fertile ground here.
And yet vaccination compliance is higher in rural Josephine County than in Ashland, with near opposite politics and demographics. Ashland residents support tax levies for libraries; they are paying members of the public radio station; they have a publicly owned electric utility and internet fiber network. Critics call Ashland a socialist enclave -- Oregon's Berkeley. Ashland High School, the large public high school has only 80% vaccinated for measles, and only 71% are fully vaccinated.
Vaccine resistance on the left reflects its own anti-authoritarian impulse. "Question Authority" is a bumper strip on Priuses, not pickup trucks with confederate flags. A vegetarian, vegan, or organic food shopper is likely reflecting a leftist orientation toward body autonomy and purity. The left is not libertarian as regards money and taxation, but is libertarian in choices on sex, drugs, food, and medical decisions.
Simple models of American political polarization get muddled as regards school vaccination. These are two very different communities; in each, parents think they are doing the right thing by refusing to vaccinate their children. The parents are almost certainly vaccinated. It was a triumph of public health celebrated in earlier generations. Now parents are rolling the dice. After all, nobody gets those diseases anymore. Do they? So why vaccinate children against something nobody gets?
Schools are a Petrie dish of people in close quarters. Sooner or later a lot of people will get sick.
Update: Siskiyou School in Ashland is a private school offering Waldorf education program. It is not a public charter school. An earlier version of this post described it as a public school.
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15 comments:
Unvaccinated children shouldn’t be allowed to attend school unless a physician has determined vaccination would put the child’s health at risk. The anti-vaxxers in Ashland never cease to amaze me. No doubt they would scoff at the ignorance of those who don’t believe in evolution, but their own ignorance makes their children a danger to themselves and others. In some states, that’s considered neglect.
And should be considered neglect and /or Child Abuse in Oregon. Anti-Vaxxers anywhere amaze me, at their stubbornness and bone headed refusal to listen to the Science behind vaccinations. And I strongly suspect that when these un vaccinated children get sick with any of these potentially lethal diseases, the parents will blame the Government. No sympathy from me for any if them when tragedy strikes.
I was born in 1953. When I was a kid in the 50's and the 60's, I think that kids then got much less than 10 different vaccinations in total. I believe today that the number is much larger than that. There are more vaccinations being given today than in the "old days". Perhaps we are over-vaccinating the public now?
I don't believe that I ever received the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) combined vaccine when I was a kid. I got measles and mumps vaccinations, but they weren't combined.
It's my opinion that a lot of children today who display autism symptoms got their autism from MMR shots, which are awfully potent. I know of a media personality who has an autistic grandson who became almost totally disabled from the MMR vaccine.
So, I think that some vaccines are justified for the protection of the public, but I think that an excess of some vaccines has caused problems.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
In fact, there is no evidence of any association between the MMR vaccine and autism. Numerous studies have tried and failed to establish a link. The problem is that conspiracy theorists don't care about evidence.
Chicken pox (varicella) is no joke. After you have had it, the virus is dormant in your body and 1 in 3 adults will develop shingles (herpes zoster). People can have shingles multiple times. It can attack your eyes and cause vision loss. I had to be treated by an opthalmologist for 6 years because of this.
Important: If you develop shingles on your face, seek medical attention immediately...Do Not Wait. You need to start taking the anti-viral drugs ASAP. You also will need prescription eye drops and other medications.
Also, if a pregnant female catches chicken pox the fetus could have serious health problems.
I was born in the U.S. in 1948. Nowadays, the media often promote the idea that people in the 50s were preoccupied with the risk of nuclear war. That's not the preoccupation that I remember. I remember that our parents were scared that we kids would get polio; that's what scared them. The feeling of relief when the Salk vaccine came out is impossible to overstate.
The only coincidence between autism and vaccines is that they both happen around the age of ~2. Cause and effect aren’t a thing in medicine but then again this is Medford where people think Q’ray Perkins is a better vote than themself. Wait til Polio starts making a big comeback cause that’ll be fun.
Back in the 50's the Polio vaccine was developed. Polio was the biggest worry back then and when the vaccine came out, it was a godsent. My father was a physician, so when he received the vaccine to administer, I was the first kid to get it in my city. In fact, the newspaper sent someone to take my picture of getting it and it appeared on the front page of the paper. I thought that was kind of cool. I still have the clipping. The Polio virus doesn't mutate like Covid or AIDS. So, once you get the shot, you don't need another. It's a perfect virus to attack. So, the schools brought nurses in to give every kid a shot. No one complained. Polio was virtually eliminated in the US and Dr. Salk was a hero.
I wonder if the same thing happened today. Would some parents refuse to let their kids get vaccinated? Would Polio still be prevalent? Medicine has come a long way since then, but stupidity has kept up the pace. It's a shame and kids are getting the consequence.
Born in 1947, I well remember our public swimming pool being shut down for at leadt one year, possibly two, because of the Polio scare, and the fear gripping my Aunt and Uncles oldest son (same age as me, a couple of months apart) caught polio. He survived and went on to lead a very successful life. And I remember the relief when the Vaccines became available.
Curt, your opinions are not facts.
Knock off your conspiracy fantasies.
COVID is nothing compared to the next pandemic.
And there will be one.
Viruses don't care about your feelings.
It’s not what you think it’s what you know and it helps to use stats to back up what you know when you have to break the bad news to one of your would be constituents who doesn’t want to hear it. If you can’t stand w facts and general knowledge when it comes to everything you’re going to be dealing with as a county commissioner then I’ll just write in myself or a smarter friend on the ballot instead of putting a mark next to your name.
Mc....My opinions are based upon facts. I know of a child who was born completely healthy. That's a fact. Once he got his MMR vaccine, then he became a "zombie" or a "vegetable" within a few months of getting the shot. That's a fact. CLEARLY, there was an direct association between this child's unfortunate disability and the MMR vaccine. I don't give a crap what the pharmaceutical industry says, since they are driven by profits, and they don't give a crap about you. MC....if you think that you are "The Man", then post your real name and your credentials.
The pharmaceutical industry pushed the Covid vaccine, which didn't work, and it caused medical problems in some people. ALL the pharmaceutical industry cared about was profits. The Covid shot was worthless. If you got it, then good for you. You had better hope it doesn't cause you medical problems in the future.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
There were no facts established in the example above. Just hypothetical and uneducated ‘alternate facts.’ It’s all about the facts man… sincerely your one and only voter.
Caveat: What I posted above should’ve included the word ‘anecdote’ as in I stubbed my toe and died of the infection a week after I got vaccinated for covid so I died of the shot. Doesn’t work like that. Sorry to go full Curr but trying to save my candidate here.
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