Vaccination exemption in CA, personal down, medical up
September 20, 2017 at 8:19 pm
(This post was last modified: September 20, 2017 at 8:20 pm by brewer.)
Looks like parents are finding ways to avoid school age vaccinations with the help of spineless physicians. At least the new law cut the unvaccinated percent.
Medical Vaccination Exemptions on the Rise in California
Deborah Lehman, MD reviewing: Delamater PL et al. JAMA 2017 Sep 5.
In the year following elimination of personal belief exemptions, California's medical exemptions rose threefold. In 2015, California became the third state (joining West Virginia and Mississippi) to eliminate personal belief exemptions (PBEs) for vaccination requirements for kindergarten attendance. Starting in January 2016, only medical exemptions were acceptable for children to attend school without a complete set of immunizations.
Using publicly available kindergarten entry data, researchers examined exemptions for all children in California from 1996 to 2016. PBEs slowly increased from 0.46% in 1996 to 2.37% in 2015, and medical exemptions increased slightly from 0.06% to 0.17%. In the year following implementation of the law, PBEs decreased to 0.56%, whereas medical exemptions rose to 0.51% — a threefold increase from the previous year. Total exemptions (personal belief and medical) for immunizations for children entering kindergarten fell from 2.54% in 2015 to 1.06% in 2016. Counties with the highest PBEs prior to 2016 had the greatest increase in medical exemptions following implementation of the law.
COMMENT
Although overall exemptions in California decreased after implementation of a law eliminating PBEs, the rising number of medical exemptions, particularly in counties with previously high PBEs, suggests that parents are now finding physicians who will attest to a medical exemption to allow their unvaccinated children to attend school. Given that true medical exemptions for vaccination are few, it is likely that physicians are providing these exemptions in the absence of evidence-based data. Granting such exemptions, and allowing unvaccinated or undervaccinated children to attend school, puts all children at risk for vaccine preventable disease and is a dangerous practice.
Medical Vaccination Exemptions on the Rise in California
Deborah Lehman, MD reviewing: Delamater PL et al. JAMA 2017 Sep 5.
In the year following elimination of personal belief exemptions, California's medical exemptions rose threefold. In 2015, California became the third state (joining West Virginia and Mississippi) to eliminate personal belief exemptions (PBEs) for vaccination requirements for kindergarten attendance. Starting in January 2016, only medical exemptions were acceptable for children to attend school without a complete set of immunizations.
Using publicly available kindergarten entry data, researchers examined exemptions for all children in California from 1996 to 2016. PBEs slowly increased from 0.46% in 1996 to 2.37% in 2015, and medical exemptions increased slightly from 0.06% to 0.17%. In the year following implementation of the law, PBEs decreased to 0.56%, whereas medical exemptions rose to 0.51% — a threefold increase from the previous year. Total exemptions (personal belief and medical) for immunizations for children entering kindergarten fell from 2.54% in 2015 to 1.06% in 2016. Counties with the highest PBEs prior to 2016 had the greatest increase in medical exemptions following implementation of the law.
COMMENT
Although overall exemptions in California decreased after implementation of a law eliminating PBEs, the rising number of medical exemptions, particularly in counties with previously high PBEs, suggests that parents are now finding physicians who will attest to a medical exemption to allow their unvaccinated children to attend school. Given that true medical exemptions for vaccination are few, it is likely that physicians are providing these exemptions in the absence of evidence-based data. Granting such exemptions, and allowing unvaccinated or undervaccinated children to attend school, puts all children at risk for vaccine preventable disease and is a dangerous practice.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
