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Immunizations

Bolster school vaccination requirement

Colorado parents have been able, with the stroke of a pen, to opt out of the requirement to have their children vaccinated. New rules adopted by the state April 15 will mean those parents will have to repeat and reaffirm their decision on a regular basis.

It is too little, too late. What the state should do is eliminate the ability to refuse vaccinations for all but the most legitimate reasons, such as medical necessity.

The new rules do not even kick in until July 2016. After that, parents who want to opt their kids out of vaccinations will have to turn in exemption forms to the child care center every time their child would be required to be inoculated. Once the kids are in school, the parents would need to sign such as form each year.

Clearly, the idea is that rather than accept the hassle, more parents would choose to get their kids immunized. But parents mistakenly convinced that vaccines are dangerous may not be dissuaded so easily. Nor should the state diminish the importance of immunization by resorting to harassment.

Whether to vaccinate children is not a purely personal decision. It is not a question of individual preference, parental feelings or something to be debated by celebrities.

Immunization is a public-health issue, a question of public safety. It is, in fact, more akin to a matter of national security than to a simple personal choice.

How immunization works is not broadly enough understood. Vaccinations cause immunity in an individual, but it is the total number of people with such immunity that protects the community. There are always some people who cannot safely be vaccinated, typically infants, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems. They can be protected, however, if the surrounding population has a high enough percentage of immune individuals that the disease cannot sustain itself. Called “herd immunity,” that percentage varies by disease, but is often around 80 to 95 percent.

The unjustifiably unvaccinated are not only freeriders, but by lessening that protective group immunity they are, however unintentionally, threatening the community. There is no reason the rest of us should accept that.



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