Peer Review

2

Chelsea Williams

ENG 1302 Rhet/Comp

2/24/2019

Draft

2025 14 Ave S

Seattle, WA 98114

Beacon Hill Elementary

Seattle Public Schools

Date: February 24, 2019

Dear Parent or Guardian:

We understand that many of you are worried for your children due to the growing outbreak of measles in Clark County, King County, and the Portland area (Stayner, 2019). For those of you who are not aware, Washington state is currently under a state of emergency until further notice. There have been 63 confirmed cases overall; of the 63, 55 were unvaccinated, six were unverified, and two were vaccinated for the MMR virus (Stayner, 2019).

It has been brought to our attention by other parents, that there is a great number of unvaccinated students in the area which may possibly be the cause of the spread of the disease to unaffected areas. To protect the health and safety of our kids we are urging parents, that if they haven’t already, they should consider giving their child the vaccine. The biggest obstacle we all face as parents, as a school district, and as a state against this disease are exemptions.

A vaccinologist at the Baylor College of Medicine said, “before we started vaccinating against measles, measles was the single leading killer of children in the world,” (Leventhal, 2018). This might be difficult for you all to hear, especially for those who are against vaccinations. In 2018, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows “vaccine exemption rates among infants and school-age children have been quietly rising, creating volatile pockets of unimmunized individuals,” (Leventhal, 2018). We hate to be the ones to say it, but this is the exact same situation that we are in at this moment. The vaccine coverage for 19-35 months and kindergartners is high, however, the median percentage of kindergartners with an exemption increased from 2% in 2016 to 2.2% in 2017 (Leventhal, 2018). There are currently “eighteen states that allow non-medical exemptions for all school children”, allowing them not to vaccinate for philosophical or religious reasons (Leventhal 2018). It is within those states that there are counties, much like ours, that have an unusually high percentage of unvaccinated children thus creating the “pocket of vulnerability” for measles for form.

We sincerely apologize to Parents and Guardians who use non-medical exemptions strictly for what they are for: religious and philosophical purposes. Unfortunately, there are others who misuse this exemption as an opportunity to avoid vaccination for their own selfish reasons. As a result, not only does this make sincere Parents and Guardians look bad, but it discredits their character, integrity, as well as makes this dire situation we are in much worse. Based on analysis by Baylor College of Medicine, “12 out of the 18 states that permit philosophical exemptions have seen increases in kindergartners with non-medical exemptions since 2009,” (Leventhal, 2018). In addition, in the past seven years, the exemption rate has increased from 1 to 7.6% for 2016 through 2017 school year most likely due to the anti-vaccination movement (Leventhal, 2018). However, this percentage isn’t widely spread throughout the state of Oregon.

We must ask ourselves as we are experiencing this dire situation, is it worth risking the health of our little ones? The measles has only been eliminated for 19 years, and since then 1,416 measles have been reported, 56.8% of them being unvaccinated (Phadke, 2016). In addition, 405 of those cases had non-medical exemptions, leaving a staggering 1,000 reported unvaccinated cases without a non-medical exemption for children who were eligible to receive vaccinations (Phadke, 2016). While this data may have been collected only three years ago, “children with vaccine exemptions have a substantially greater risk for acquiring measles than fully vaccinated children,”(Phadke, 2016).

History has a way of repeating itself, and the situation will not be a matter of “if,” but a matter of “when.” As long as there pockets of vulnerability open for the disease to fester and transmit itself among unvaccinated adults, infants, and toddlers, it will repeatedly continue to do so without remorse. The first measles death in the past ten years was in 2015 (Vaxopedia, 2018). In that same year, there was a total of 189 confirmed measles cases however, they were so spread out across the U.S. the source could not be found (Vaxopedia, 2018). This meant that the original location of infection could have been anywhere, thus making unvaccinated individuals more prone to catching the disease and passing it on. In 2017 there were 122 cases expanding across 16 states including our state; the largest outbreak occurred in Minnesota with 79 cases, and 71 of those cases being unvaccinated (Vaxopedia, 2018).

Recently, Washington’s Healthcare Wellness & Committee sent the House Bill 1638 to the House Rules Committee that would ban personal of philosophical exemptions for measles, mumps, and rubella (KGW, 2019). In addition, the Second Broader Bill is also waiting to be reviewed in the state by the senate as well that would ban philosophical exemptions for all vaccines. This would not be the first time that the government has intervened during dire times like this. After the outbreak in Disneyland in California in 2015, California passed the Senate Bill 277, which required all students from kindergarten through seventh grade to be fully vaccinated (Leventhal, 2018). The same situation happened in West Virginia; the Senate Bill 286 was passed which required children entering childcare and public schools to be up to date on the vaccines (Leventhal, 2018).

Let’s not forget Parents and Guardians, that the enemy here is not each other, but this disease that will continue to live on as long as we continue to ignore the science that is available for us to fight it. We do not expect this fight to be easy, or the pressure to use vaccines to easy either. It has been a crucial winter and spring for us all, especially for our brave little soldiers who aren’t aware of their invisible nemesis.

Finally, Parents and Guardians if you and your loved ones are living in or close an infected measles county please practice the following prevention procedures:

· Wash hands with soap and water (or hand sanitizer with 60% of alcohol or more)

· Make sure hands are clean when touching face.

· Cover mouth and nose with tissue/sleeve when coughing or sneezing.

· Avoid close physical contact with individuals who are sick

If there are any concerns or questions regarding any information, please contact our registered nurse.

.

Works Cited

Stayner, Wyatt. “Clark County Measles Outbreak up to 63 Cases; Another School Exposed.” The Columbian, 20 Feb. 2019, www.columbian.com/news/2019/feb/20/clark-county-measles-outbreak-up-to-63-cases-another-school-exposed/.

Leventhal, Jamie. “A Quiet Rise in Unvaccinated Children Could Put the U.S. at Risk of Outbreaks.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 11 Oct. 2018, www.pbs.org/newshour/health/a-quiet-rise-in-unvaccinated-children-could-put-the-u-s-at-risk-of-outbreaks.

Phadke, Varun K et al. “Association Between Vaccine Refusal and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in the United States: A Review of Measles and Pertussis” JAMA vol. 315,11 (2016): 1149-58.

“A History of Measles Outbreaks in United States.” VAXOPEDIA, VAXOPEDIA, 15 Mar. 2018, https://vaxopedia.org/2018/03/15/a-history-of-measles-outbreaks-in-united-states/

“Amid Measles Outbreak, Bills in Oregon, Washington Take Aim at Vaccine Exemptions.” KGW, KGW, 21 Feb. 2019, www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/amid-measles-outbreak-bills-in-oregon-washington-take-aim-at-vaccine-exemptions/283-f6db09cb-4454-41b7-832c-b4fa5b413d49.