Under a new policy in Michigan that will go into effect on Jan. 1, parents who opt their children out of required vaccines for religious and personal reasons will have to get such waivers signed by their local health department. The aim is to ensure that parents have accurate information and the benefits and risks of childhood immunizations.
This is a model Maine should consider adopting.
A growing number of parents in Maine are putting their children — as well as their children’s friends and classmates — at risk from childhood illnesses by skipping vaccinations. Maine’s vaccination opt-out rate is the fourth highest in the country. Worse, Maine had the largest increase in opt-outs in the country between 2012 and 2014.
In the last school year, 5.2 percent of all public school kindergartners in the state did not have all the required vaccinations, a large increase from 3.9 percent in the 2012-2013 school year.
Maine is among 18 states that allow parents to exempt their children from school-required immunizations for philosophical reasons. Children are also exempted from the requirements for medical and religious reasons, although these account for a small fraction of Maine’s opt-outs. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only states that don’t allow exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons. Mississippi had the highest kindergarten vaccination rate in the country in 2012-13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Without an exemption, kindergarten students in Maine must be vaccinated against pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, polio and chickenpox.
Although most children are vaccinated, the small, but growing, number of kids who are not is problematic. Herd immunity — the fact that unvaccinated children are protected by the “herd” of children who have been immunized — varies by illness. For measles, which is highly contagious and spread through the air, 95 percent of children need to be immunized for herd immunity to be effective.
Other states with high opt-out rates, including California, have seen outbreaks of the illness. Measles cases in Michigan pushed along the vaccination rule change there. After the illness was virtually eliminated in the U.S., the country this is seeing a record number of measles cases this year as more parents opt out of vaccinations for their children. As of the end of November, 610 cases have been reported across 24 states.
Allowing this to happen is irresponsible when there is an easy solution.
Washington state also had rising exemption rates. Recently, lawmakers there passed a law requiring parents to submit proof they spoke to a doctor about the benefits and risks of childhood vaccinations to qualify for a philosophical exemption. Lawmakers in New Jersey are also considering tightening that state’s opt-out requirements.
It will be an uphill battle in Maine. A bill proposed by Rep. Anne Graham, a North Yarmouth Democrat who is a pediatric nurse practitioner, sought to have schools provide information to parents who had exempted their children from vaccinations on the benefits and risks of vaccinations. It was rejected by the Appropriations Committee earlier this year.
Counter-productive legislation to require that parents be given a list of vaccine ingredients and information on how to opt their children out of required vaccinations, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Andrea Boland of Sanford, was passed by the House last year. Fortunately, the bill, which was opposed by the medical community, was later rejected by the Senate.
Preventable childhood illnesses are a real, worrisome threat to the health of Maine children. Stronger vaccination rules are the best way to minimize those very real risks.