Parents are increasingly choosing not to vaccinate their children, according to a joint NBC Bay Area and NBC News investigation. An analysis of nationwide health records, in partnership with researchers at Stanford University, reveals declining vaccination rates in nearly 80% of U.S. counties and jurisdictions.
The new findings come on the heels of the federal government walking back recommendations on the Covid vaccine, causing confusion over who can get the shot and whether insurance companies will actually pay for it. At the same time, Florida is promising to do away with some of its own child vaccine mandates within the next few months.
“What’s at stake is lives,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, a longtime physician and Marin County’s top public health officer. “Vaccines are one of our most important public health tools, if not the most important public health tool, for protecting us, preventing hospitalizations and deaths.”
Marin County has spent years trying to navigate a particularly vocal anti-vaccine movement. Much of that opposition traces back to a since retracted and debunked medical study in the late 1990s that linked the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to the development of autism.
What I would call one of the original sins of vaccine misinformation is making that connection.
Dr. Lisa Santora, Marin County Public Health Officer, commenting on a now debunked medical study from the late 1990s that linked the MMR vaccine to the development of autism
“What I would call one of the original sins of vaccine misinformation is making that connection,” Santora said. “We spent the last nearly three decades educating the community and engaging the community, so they understand the facts around vaccines and the science behind vaccines.”
Marin County used to have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S.
Fifteen years ago, Marin County had one of the lowest child vaccination rates in the nation at just 83%. However, the rate has since climbed to one of the highest in the country to 97%, which is line with most of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma and Alameda counties, however, have the lowest vaccination rates in the region and just fall under the global standard of at least a 95% vaccination rate, which the World Health Organization says is required to achieve “herd immunity” and prevent large-scale outbreaks.
“When you choose not to get vaccinated and you have unvaccinated children in school they are at the highest risk for contracting some of our diseases, like measles,” Santora said.
How Marin County increased child vaccination rates
Santora partly credits the spike in vaccination rates in Marin county to the advocacy of 17-year-old Rhett Krawitt, a Marin County high school senior who was diagnosed with Leukemia at just two years old. Krawitt spent much of his early life immunocompromised, which is why his doctors determined he was unable to receive his recommended round of childhood vaccines. The lack of protection left Krawitt especially vulnerable in the midst of his already serious illness.
“There were there were two nights where he was on respirators –he was on, basically, life support,” said Carl Krawitt, Rhett’s father. “There were a couple of nights where I had my head on the bed next to Rhett crying and just saying, please don’t die, please, don’t die, please don’t die.”
Jodi Krawitt, Rhett’s mother, recalls the constant fear for her son’s safety.
“I think it gave us a real dose of some of the fragility of life and that there are no guarantees,” she said. “It was really hard.”
Rhett’s medical vulnerability pushed the family to launch a public crusade to increase vaccination rates.
“Vaccines save lives,” Krawitt told California lawmakers while testifying at the state capitol in April 2015. Krawitt, who was just seven years old at the time, was speaking in support of Senate Bill 277, legislation designed to eliminate personal and religious vaccine exemptions. Just six months after Krawitt delivered his speech during a hearing for the California Senate Education Committee, the new restrictions took effect.
“By sharing his story, it allowed people to see the broader picture of why vaccines are important for our community,” Santora said. “They protect everyone, especially our most vulnerable residents like children who are immunocompromised and want to go to school.”
How to achieve ‘herd immunity’
To prevent outbreaks and achieve what’s known as “herd immunity,” the World Health Organization recommends at least a 95% vaccination rate against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).
A joint NBC Bay Area and NBC News investigation, however, reveals nearly 70% of counties/jurisdictions in the U.S. have MMR vaccination rates lower than that global standard.
“People often think that their own choices are their own choices and they can put themselves at risk,” said Carl Krawitt, Rhett’s father. “They don’t always realize that those choices impact and can harm others.”
Parents are increasingly opting to forgo vaccines for their children
Vaccination rates for a wide range of diseases, from polio to pertussis, have declined slightly in the U.S. over the past six years, according to data from the CDC. For example, the vaccination rate against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), totaled 95% for children across the country during the 2019/2020 school year. Today, the vaccination rate rests at 93%, which is slightly below the 95% threshold health officials deem necessary to avoid outbreaks.
A deeper dive into county-by county data also shows parents are increasingly deciding to opt out of vaccinations for their children. In fact, an NBC News analysis found close to 80% of counties/jurisdictions across the country have seen overall vaccination rates decrease since 2019.
“I always felt uneasy about [vaccines],” said Erin Laughlin, who is choosing not to vaccinate her two youngest children, 5-year-old Scarlett and 3-year-old Mickey. “We would rather risk them getting a very low chance of, say, getting measles – and take that very seriously – but have the confidence in the medical field that she wouldn’t die from it,” Laughlin said.
Major health advocacy groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization, have repeatedly declared vaccines to be safe and effective and have found serious side effects to be rare.
Laughlin did vaccinate her four oldest children but believes some of the shots left one of her kids with a dangerously high fever for three days. As a result, she has decided to keep vaccines away from her two youngest children. It’s part of the reason she’s homeschooling them at her house in Brentwood, about an hour east of Oakland. Beginning in 2016, California prohibited parents from using a religious or personal belief exemption to avoid the state’s vaccination requirements for enrolling children in public or private schools.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Laughlin said. “I don’t like to put things inside my children’s bodies that could prevent a disease that is no longer a threat to the public.”
Earlier this year, more than 700 people were infected with measles during an outbreak in Texas. Of those who fell ill, 97% were either unvaccinated or had only received partial vaccinations, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“It’s really sad when things like that happen and we take it really seriously, but it doesn’t change our decision,” Laughlin said. It comes down to logic and what you believe is logic.”
California’s last major Measles outbreak
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the last major disease outbreaks in California was when measles began spreading at Disneyland a decade ago, infecting more than 130 people. Relatively high vaccination rates have largely kept California safe. Given that reduced risk, Laughlin says she should be allowed to decide if she wants to vaccinate her children and doesn’t believe she’s putting the rest of her community in harm’s way.
“It doesn’t make sense to hurry up and inoculate a very small human with these large amounts of vaccines for diseases that they’ll very likely never come in contact with,” she said.
Health experts, however, are quick to point out the main reason certain diseases have become rare is because communities continue to get vaccinated.
“Having conversations, open conversations with humility, and not judging I think allowed us to create an environment that was supportive of that shift,” Santora said.
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Source: NBC Bay Area
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