Reply to WaPo article on school vaccination rates

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow. This data is scary. My local public only has a 92% vaccination rate. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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