Medical Exemptions Keep Vaccination Rates Low at Some Bay Area Schools
BERKELEY (KPIX) -- There are 40 confirmed cases of measles in the state of California and containing the spread of the disease requires high levels of vaccination. Yet, at several Bay Area schools, rates of vaccination among last year's kindergartners is quite low, owing in part to medical exemptions.
"Of all the diseases we deal with that are contagious, measles is the most contagious disease," says Dr. John Swartzberg, professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
"Its far more contagious, for example, than smallpox."
To avoid the outbreak of such a contagious disease, the vast majority of people must be immunized.
How many people? "Somewhere around 95 percent of the population needs to be immunized to stop these outbreaks," according to Dr. Swartzberg.
But, according to the California Department of Public Health, last year six Bay Area schools had incoming kindergarten classes in which less than 50 percent of children were vaccinated.
- Marin Waldorf School, San Rafael: 22 percent vaccination
- Berkeley Rose Waldorf School, Berkeley: 29 percent vaccination
- Sebastopol Independent Charter in Sebastopol: 36 percent vaccination
- Live Oak Charter School, Petaluma: 43 percent vaccination
- Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm, Santa Rosa, 45 percent vaccination
- Reach in Sebastopol: 48 percent vaccination
Laws requiring children to be vaccinated were made more stringent in 2015, which led to an overall increase in rates from 90 percent to 95 percent. Still, a doctor can excuse a child from the vaccination requirements.
According to Dr. Swartzberg, about 1 percent to 3 percent of people have legitimate medical reasons to avoid vaccines but a much higher percentage of students has obtained a medical exemptions at those six Bay Area schools.
According to data from the California Department of Public Health, last year's kindergarten class presented permanent medical exemptions at the following rates:
Marin Waldorf School: 19 percent
Berkeley Rose Waldorf School: 38 percent
Sebastopol Independent Charter: 58 percent
Live Oak Charter School: 43 percent
Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm: 35 percent
Reach: 14 percent
(Other students had temporary medical exemptions or had not provided records at the time of the survey.)
"There's still an awful lot of people who are not immunizing their children and they're getting medical exemptions for that," says Dr. Swartzberg. "And the medical exemptions are bogus. Well, I can't say they're all bogus but the vast majority are bogus."
State senator Richard Pan, who is also a doctor, has proposed a new law, SB 276, that would make it harder to get a medical exemption.
Opponents include "Physicians for Informed Consent" which, according to the bill's analysis argues that "mandated vaccines have not yet been proven to be less risky than the diseases they are designed to prevent," that it thwarts parental control and doctors' ability to provide "personalized vaccine recommendations based on infectious disease risks and individualized vaccine-injury risks, and instead promotes an outdated one-size-fits-all governmental vaccine schedule which is not based on new medical discoveries; and, subjects the health of California's children to the mercy of a State PHO with whom they don't have a patient-doctor relationship."
Dr. Swartzberg supports the new law although he wishes he didn't have to. He explained that children can die or be permanently brain damaged by measles.
"Measles is not a benign disease and for a parent not to immunize to protect their child against measles is really criminal," he said.
KPIX contacted all six schools listed here and offered them the opportunity to provide different or corrected data. None did so.
