About 2 Percent of Local Students Waive Vaccine Requirement

All students in the Los Alamitos Unified School District met last month’s deadline for junior high and high school students to get the state-mandated whooping cough vaccine, pertussis. While the district’s compliance rate was better than most, not all students are vaccinated against the infection. About 2 percent signed personal belief waivers instead of being vaccinated.

According to the California Healthcare Foundation, exemptions to the vaccine requirement and whooping cough outbreaks tend to occur in more affluent neighborhoods. That may be because parents are influenced by reports or Internet groups decrying the mercury content of vaccinations as well as debate about side effects of vaccinations, the foundation concluded. Last year there were roughly 7,824 suspected cases of whooping cough in California, including nine infant fatalities, according to the California Department of Public Health. This year there were 2,462 cases by September, according to the health department.

One out of 10 parents say they don’t follow the recommendation from the CDC for vaccination in their children according to the new survey conducted by the Journal pediatrics.  

Last year, Orange County experienced a whooping cough epidemic with 467 people diagnosed with the infection, which infants and immunity compromised people are highly vulnerable to. The year before, there were only 81 infections. In the first eight months of this year, the Orange County Health Care Agency reported 105 cases of whooping cough.

A new law that went into effect this year requires 7^th to 12^th graders to have been vaccinated with the pertussis vaccine before entering the 2011-2012 school year. The State Legislature granted a 30-day extension starting the first day of school for parents and students to show proof of vaccination. Some schools around the state and county have reached 100% compliance, leaving administrators to decide what to do with hundreds of students not allowed in the classroom.

In cities such as Oakland, schools set up on-site vaccination clinics to ensure that students did not miss school. There are 28 districts within Orange County and in most of the districts reached 80-100% compliance by the state deadline, said Pamela Kahn, the Coordinator of Heath and Wellness for the Orange County Department of Education. Some districts had an 80% or lower compliance, she added. “It’s going to be hard for parents and students to not have proof,” said Kahn.  
   
According to Dr. Mark Johnson, the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, 98% of the Los Alamitos students have been vaccinated, and roughly 1.8 % signed the waiver. Parents can sign extension forms, and each district can grant an extension for a short period of time, no longer than 30 days.  But if the student has not met that deadline then he or she, “Will be excluded from school activities,” Said Ms. Kahn.

The Orange County District of Education has made it easy for students to obtain the vaccine.  If they can’t afford the $57 shot, than there are services that will provide the vaccine at no cost, thanks to the Orange County Health Agency.