Page 54 - Summer2015

What the So how about those two different kinds of think we don’t know how to do math.

press failed to people in the world? A much better way of look- With over 99 percent of children vaccinated,
ing at this is pro- and anti-health freedom. The it’s reasonable to assume that most children re-
communicate, truth is, when it comes to vaccination—like any ceive their core vaccines. State health department
however, is other diagnostic, therapeutic, or other medical in- records bear this out, as shown by an analysis
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the fact that tervention—it doesn’t really matter what I think of Vermont’s data. An exempted child could
or do, and what you think or do. What matters is be fully vaccinated except for a single dose of
the overhyped the freedom to choose. chickenpox vaccine, or hepatitis B vaccine. State
Disneyland lawmakers looking to blame parents for rising ex-
measles “REFUSERS” ARE PUTTING US ALL AT emption rates should look in the mirror instead.
They will find that rising exemptions are tied to
RISK
affair was Sound familiar? Parents who refuse to vac- the recent, dramatic increase in the number of
completely cinate endanger us all. Here's some of the argu- mandated “non-core” vaccines, including chick-
unrelated ments we are hearing: enpox, hepatitis B and flu. Parents are doing their
own research and concluding that not all diseases
to school • USA Today: Jail “anti-vax” parents and not all vaccines are the same.
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vaccine • Slate Magazine: How to Deal with Anti-
exemption Vaxxers. Try to persuade them. And if that BUT WHAT ABOUT DISNEYLAND?
From late 2014 through April 17, 2015, the
fails, give them no choice.

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laws. • Fox News: Dr. Manny: Should Obama date by which the California Department of Pub-
make vaccines mandatory for all children? 3 lic Health determined the outbreak had ended,
“I am calling on the federal government to the agency recorded one hundred thirty-six
mandate vaccinations for all children, and confirmed cases of measles that started in Dis-
to eliminate all of the silly loopholes that neyland in Orange County, California. Shortly
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are creating chaos in so many communities after the first cases were reported, mainstream
throughout America.” 3 media proceeded to “freak out.”
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• Reason.com blog: Shame and Shun Anti- What the press failed to communicate, how-
Vaccine Parents. 4 ever, is the fact that the overhyped Disneyland
• The Verge: Vaccine Deniers: inside the measles affair was completely unrelated to school
dumb, dangerous new fad. 5 vaccine exemption laws.

These headlines are everywhere. Main- • It started at an amusement park, not at a
stream media have been on a rampage since the school.
beginning of 2015. Read enough of these stories • It originated from an overseas source, not
and you’d feel pretty comfortable concluding from an exempted child.
that there’s a serious public health problem on • It affected more adults (56 percent) who are
our hands. Right? Wrong. not subject to school vaccine laws.
• It never spread into the state of California
AMERICA VACCINATES ITS CHILDREN let alone the entire United States.
The truth is that America vaccinates its chil-
dren. Using the Centers for Disease Control and In fact, during the past two years, Califor-
Prevention’s own data, I would like to impress nia’s coverage rate for measles vaccination has
upon you that “The Vaccine War,” as styled by increased—now at 96.2 percent —while its
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Frontline, isn’t about vaccines, public health, philosophical exemption rate has fallen by 19
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or even children. The CDC reports that over 99 percent. Is the CDC trying to tell us that rising
percent of children are vaccinated, and 90-95 vaccine coverage and declining exemptions
percent are fully vaccinated. cause outbreaks? I don’t think so.
The median exemption rate is 1.8 percent.
They will try to tell you this means that 1.8 per-
cent of children are fully unvaccinated. They
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54 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2015 Wise Traditions

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