WaPo article on school vaccination rates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's up with Bethesda Montessori, with a 40% vaccination rate? I've never heard of the school, but it's the lowest in the area.

And Capital Hill Day School, at 52%. I didn't think that was either a MAGA or hippie school.

I'm very surprised by that. Seems almost improbably low. Does make me second guess considering for our kid if that 52% is even remotely true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. This data is scary. My local public only has a 92% vaccination rate.

That seems like a good rate, honestly. Some people will always get religious or health exemptions. Our school is just above 95% and I'm okay with that. 100% is unrealistic unless the school is tiny and very homogenous.

I would be freaked out to be at one of these schools with less than 80% rates. Some of them as low as 60%. That's nuts and is just begging for a measles breakout. Ugh.

95 is necessary for herd immunity. It probably wouldn't stop me from enrolling my kid (unless immunocompromised) but is enough to make me kind of anxious and want titers checked regularly.

Yes but these rates are just for kindergarteners of one school -- as long as the full community averages out to 95 or higher, you get herd immunity. If the kindergarten class at a school is above 90%, I feel okay. Especially if you are in a community where many schools are closer to 100%. It means your community has generally high vaccine uptake and people who aren't vaccinating are outliers or may have special circumstances.

When you look at the schools with like 60% vaccination rates, it means you have a significant portion of the community who doesn't believe in vaccination or thinks they are entitled to play fast and and loose with the schedule. Many of these schools with these low rates also have a lot of families who travel internationally frequently. That is playing with fire. What happens when one of the many international families at WIS brings measles back from one of the countries with high rates of measles (Indonesia, Russia, parts of the EU, Mexico and Canada all have significantly higher rates than the US) and spreads it to a school where nearly half of kindergarteners aren't vaxed. Nothing good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's up with Bethesda Montessori, with a 40% vaccination rate? I've never heard of the school, but it's the lowest in the area.

And Capital Hill Day School, at 52%. I didn't think that was either a MAGA or hippie school.

I'm very surprised by that. Seems almost improbably low. Does make me second guess considering for our kid if that 52% is even remotely true.

I think what these numbers should reveal to people is that vaccine skepticism may extend beyond your hard core constituencies at this point. 20 years ago the only people skipping MMR for their kindergarteners were super religious (evangelical fundies, Jewish orthodox, some Christian Scientists, etc.) far left hippies (like people living on communes, off the grid types, the super hippie-ish Waldorf types). But I think what we are seeing is increased vaccine skepticism even across people who don't fall into these groups.

You also see this happening in other countries. Canada had more than twice the number of reported measles cases in 2024 as in the US. Parts of Europe are also struggling with measles outbreaks. Vaccine skepticism is no longer as fringe as it once was.

[Anonymous]

What’s odd is that all the private colleges require vaccinations for basically everything…way more than what private k-12 require.

Maybe there is a way to claim some exemption…our kids are vaccinated, so it wasn’t an issue…but it was surprising as to how exhaustive the requirements.

[Anonymous]

Because libs are the OG anti vaxxers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s odd is that all the private colleges require vaccinations for basically everything…way more than what private k-12 require.

Maybe there is a way to claim some exemption…our kids are vaccinated, so it wasn’t an issue…but it was surprising as to how exhaustive the requirements.

One brand of anti-vaxxing is to delay vaccinations. Trump has jumped on this bandwagon, that's why he talks about "changing the vaccine schedule." This is a big demand of anti-vaxxers. They want to schedule to allow people to delay vaccines, wait longer between different doses, etc., without repercussions for things like school enrollment.

I also think the schools with the lowest vaccine rates tend to also have UMC or wealthy families who do not want or expect their kids to pursue a standard American career path through the most elite school they can get into. Many of these kids may go to college outside the US or go to schools that are vaccine optional, of which there are many.

For families that are already wealthy, many don't actually dream of sending their kids to Yale or Stanford. Remember, people who disagree with vaccination requirements are, by definition, anti-conformist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s odd is that all the private colleges require vaccinations for basically everything…way more than what private k-12 require.

Maybe there is a way to claim some exemption…our kids are vaccinated, so it wasn’t an issue…but it was surprising as to how exhaustive the requirements.

One brand of anti-vaxxing is to delay vaccinations. Trump has jumped on this bandwagon, that's why he talks about "changing the vaccine schedule." This is a big demand of anti-vaxxers. They want to schedule to allow people to delay vaccines, wait longer between different doses, etc., without repercussions for things like school enrollment.

I also think the schools with the lowest vaccine rates tend to also have UMC or wealthy families who do not want or expect their kids to pursue a standard American career path through the most elite school they can get into. Many of these kids may go to college outside the US or go to schools that are vaccine optional, of which there are many.

For families that are already wealthy, many don't actually dream of sending their kids to Yale or Stanford. Remember, people who disagree with vaccination requirements are, by definition, anti-conformist.

I don’t know what you are talking about…Bill Gates sent his kids to Stanford…Jeff Bezos has one at MIT, Elon Musk at Brown (who knows where the younger brood goes)…they definitely expect their kids to attend top schools.

You have plenty of super wealthy non-Asian Americans paying college counselors $100k+to get their kids into these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because libs are the OG anti vaxxers

+1 My kids are now young adults, but I remember a liberal DC neighbor of mine in about 2005 sending her child (who had the aforementioned 'delayed' vaccine schedule) telling me *after* a playdate that she'd sent her kid *infected at the time with chicken pox* to my home with a group of children, hoping that it could be a "chicken pox party" and all the kids could get exposed. Glover Park, highly educated, dual lawyer family. Not someone living on a commune! Oh, and she sent her kids to private DC schools.

[Anonymous]

People are more concerned about Autism and SIDS than measles. Vaccine schedule adjustments are not irrational to look into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are more concerned about Autism and SIDS than measles. Vaccine schedule adjustments are not irrational to look into.

Vaccines don't cause autism. High quality studies have shown no connection over and over again. But even if they did, I would rather have my autistic child alive than a non autistic child dead from measles.

-Parent of autistic child

[Anonymous]

I don’t know what year the measles vaccine came out but I do remember seeing kids on TV (Brady Bunch) and in books (The Great Brain) getting measles and mumps on purpose and it being no bigger deal than chicken pox. Google says 99.7-99.9% recovery rate. Parents have the right to consider cost-benefit analysis on this stuff and some come away with an opinion different than yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what year the measles vaccine came out but I do remember seeing kids on TV (Brady Bunch) and in books (The Great Brain) getting measles and mumps on purpose and it being no bigger deal than chicken pox. Google says 99.7-99.9% recovery rate. Parents have the right to consider cost-benefit analysis on this stuff and some come away with an opinion different than yours.

That’s what homeschooling is for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's up with Bethesda Montessori, with a 40% vaccination rate? I've never heard of the school, but it's the lowest in the area.

And Capital Hill Day School, at 52%. I didn't think that was either a MAGA or hippie school.

I'm shocked by this, quite honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are more concerned about Autism and SIDS than measles. Vaccine schedule adjustments are not irrational to look into.

Yes it is irrational if you are doing it because of autism and/or SIDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s odd is that all the private colleges require vaccinations for basically everything…way more than what private k-12 require.

Maybe there is a way to claim some exemption…our kids are vaccinated, so it wasn’t an issue…but it was surprising as to how exhaustive the requirements.

One brand of anti-vaxxing is to delay vaccinations. Trump has jumped on this bandwagon, that's why he talks about "changing the vaccine schedule." This is a big demand of anti-vaxxers. They want to schedule to allow people to delay vaccines, wait longer between different doses, etc., without repercussions for things like school enrollment.

I also think the schools with the lowest vaccine rates tend to also have UMC or wealthy families who do not want or expect their kids to pursue a standard American career path through the most elite school they can get into. Many of these kids may go to college outside the US or go to schools that are vaccine optional, of which there are many.

For families that are already wealthy, many don't actually dream of sending their kids to Yale or Stanford. Remember, people who disagree with vaccination requirements are, by definition, anti-conformist.

I don’t know what you are talking about…Bill Gates sent his kids to Stanford…Jeff Bezos has one at MIT, Elon Musk at Brown (who knows where the younger brood goes)…they definitely expect their kids to attend top schools.

You have plenty of super wealthy non-Asian Americans paying college counselors $100k+to get their kids into these schools.

You get that not all rich people, right? Those people all vaccinated their kids (except maybe Musk, he's crazy). We're talking about rich people who don't vaccinate their kids.