Rohnert Park, Cotati Parents Reject Vaccines at a Higher Rate Than State Average

An article in Slate earlier this month asked whether parents who decline to immunize their children should be sued or charged with a crime when their decision leads to an outbreak of illness.

The piece pointed to a 2008 San Diego incident where an unvaccinated 7-year-old boy caught measles in Switzerland and then passed the virus on to 11 other unvaccinated kids.

The Slate article comes as public health officers across the country are reminding parents to bring proof of vaccinations when enrolling their children in school.

In California, kindergartners need five DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), four polio, three hepatitis B, two MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and one varicella (chickenpox) shot.

However, California is one of 18 states where parents may still enroll students who have not been immunized if they claim an exemption due to personal beliefs. Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last fall a bill requiring parents who exclude their children from immunization requirements to submit a signed statement that they received information about risks and benefits of vaccines.

In doing so, however, Brown directed the state Department of Health to provide a way for people whose religious beliefs preclude vaccinations from having to seek a health care practitioner's signature.

Out of the 494 children who enrolled as kindergarteners in Rohnert Park and Cotati schools last year, nearly 5.9 percent started school without having received the battery of vaccinations required by the state because of the personal beliefs of their parents or guardians.

That figure is more than double the statewide average of 2.7 percent but slightly lower than the average for Sonoma County of 6.3 percent. 

Harmony Union School was by far the highest in the area, as 20 of its 43 students – or 46.5 percent – did not receive vaccinations because of their parents' personal beliefs.

A study by the California Department of Public Health in 2010 found that 80 percent of parents who don't immunize their kids do so because they believe the vaccines pose a health risk.

One of the most vocal critics of vaccines, former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy, is set to become a co-host of the morning TV talk show The View next month. McCarthy has repeatedly claimed that vaccines played a major role in giving her son autism.