Editorial: Schools right to insist on immunizations
A couple years ago, it was the measles. This year, mumps.
Outbreaks happen and need to be contained. But when they do happen, it raises the question anew about immunizations and vaccines. For children in schools, the questions should have a simple answer.
Unless there is a documented religious waiver (and some authorities would do away with that as well), all kids should be immunized. And if an outbreak does happen, as in Barrington schools last month, parents should follow the advice of the experts: if children are not vaccinated, do so. And until they are, they have to stay home.
"We're trying to work to maximize the vaccination," Barrington Unit District 220 Superintendent Brian Harris told the Daily Herald in mid-April. "We really need our parents to vaccinate their kids, and we still have some that have chosen not to."
That's an unfortunate reality these days. It's also not unexpected when celebrities and other prominent, if not expert, voices have been outwardly critical of vaccinations, some even persisting in the widely debunked claim they could cause autism. Among the skeptics is President Trump, who met with another vaccine critic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on the issue earlier this year. Kennedy said at the time Trump asked him to chair a vaccinations safety commission but that hasn't materialized yet.
Thankfully, the medical community is sticking to its guns, adamant that vaccinations are necessary.
"Vaccines have been part of the fabric of our society for decades and are the most significant medical innovation of our time," Drs. Fernando Stein and Karen Remley of the Elk Grove Village-based American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement in January after the Kennedy announcement was made.
That organization quotes a 2013 New England Journal of Medicine study on its website that estimates that childhood vaccination programs have prevented 103.1 million cases of diphtheria, hepatitis A, measles, mumps, pertussis, polio and rubella since 1924.
Given those statistics, we laud Elgin Area Unit District 46's plan announced this week to hold steadfast to the rule that all children must be immunized by the first day of school or they can't attend.
In the past, students were given a two-week grace period. By announcing the policy now, school officials have given parents almost four months to get the vaccinations done.
"We are going to live by that deadline," District 46 CEO Tony Sanders said, citing the increasing cases of mumps and other infectious diseases that could be prevented if students were inoculated.
Given what Barrington went through this year with the mumps outbreak, more districts should insist that the rules be followed from Day One.