Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Some doctors helping anti-vaccine parents get medical exemptions
California banned 'personal belief' vaccine exemptions for children entering school three years ago. But a disturbing trend has emerged.
Alyssa Hernandez often worries about her 2-year-old son, Noah, when they leave their Sacramento, California home. The little boy, who had a liver transplant when he was 6 months old, cannot get vaccinated against a number of diseases, including highly contagious measles, because his immune system is suppressed due to the transplant.
“I’m scared to take him out,” Hernandez said. “I’m scared to have him go to school, because you don’t know what’s around.”
As parts of the U.S. experience some of the worst measles outbreaks in years — largely due to parents who don't vaccinate their children — that fear is understandable. The World Health Organization has ranked resistance to vaccinations as one of the top 10 threats to public health in 2019.
In California, an increasing number of parents are finding ways to avoid immunizations for their children, with the the surprising assistance of medical doctors, a recent study found.
Noah Hernandez on the day he was born in 2017. Noah was born with a serious liver disease and had a transplant when he was six months old. Alyssa Alimena
Despite a California law passed after the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak that got rid of the "personal belief" vaccine exemptions for children entering school, pockets of low vaccination rates have developed in the state. A number of counties are reporting rates lower than 90 percent, the number needed to achieve herd immunity, which occurs when enough people are vaccinated against an infectious disease to protect others in the community who are not.
That is likely due to a surge in medical exemptions— a doctor's note allowing a child to go to school without the required vaccinations, according to research published October in the journal Pediatrics. In some schools the medical exemption rate is as high as 20 percent, according to the California Department of Public Health.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/some-doctors-helping-anti-vaccine-parents-get-medical-exemptions-n963011?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma
Alyssa Hernandez often worries about her 2-year-old son, Noah, when they leave their Sacramento, California home. The little boy, who had a liver transplant when he was 6 months old, cannot get vaccinated against a number of diseases, including highly contagious measles, because his immune system is suppressed due to the transplant.
“I’m scared to take him out,” Hernandez said. “I’m scared to have him go to school, because you don’t know what’s around.”
As parts of the U.S. experience some of the worst measles outbreaks in years — largely due to parents who don't vaccinate their children — that fear is understandable. The World Health Organization has ranked resistance to vaccinations as one of the top 10 threats to public health in 2019.
In California, an increasing number of parents are finding ways to avoid immunizations for their children, with the the surprising assistance of medical doctors, a recent study found.
Noah Hernandez on the day he was born in 2017. Noah was born with a serious liver disease and had a transplant when he was six months old. Alyssa Alimena
Despite a California law passed after the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak that got rid of the "personal belief" vaccine exemptions for children entering school, pockets of low vaccination rates have developed in the state. A number of counties are reporting rates lower than 90 percent, the number needed to achieve herd immunity, which occurs when enough people are vaccinated against an infectious disease to protect others in the community who are not.
That is likely due to a surge in medical exemptions— a doctor's note allowing a child to go to school without the required vaccinations, according to research published October in the journal Pediatrics. In some schools the medical exemption rate is as high as 20 percent, according to the California Department of Public Health.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/some-doctors-helping-anti-vaccine-parents-get-medical-exemptions-n963011?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
