In Our View: Keep Our Students Safe

As students return to school this week, a couple of safety measures should be paramount on the minds of parents: Making sure vaccinations are up-to-date, and using caution while driving near schools.

State health authorities this summer emphasized the need for students to be immunized against whooping cough. The latest report from the state Department of Health shows that there have been 1,142 cases of whooping cough in Washington this year — compared with 282 cases of the disease for the same time frame in 2014. While whooping cough can be a painful nuisance for adults and older children, it can have much more dire consequences for young children.

More important, parents should ensure that their children are current on the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. Several measles outbreaks across the country in the past year have highlighted the need for these vaccines, and the death of a Clallam County woman this summer marked the first measles fatality in the United States since 2003. Some might point to this rarity as proof that measles immunizations are unnecessary, but the fact that measles have been held at bay for so long points out the effectiveness of vaccinations.

Despite this, there has been a growing movement that eschews the MMR vaccine out of a misguided belief that it has a link to autism. This falsehood can be traced to a fraudulent 1998 study by British doctor Andrew Wakefield. The research has since been discredited, and Wakefield has been stripped of his license to practice medicine.

The fallout from Wakefield’s fabricated study continues, however. In Washington, 4.6 percent of students — about twice the national average — opt-out of the MMR vaccine, a choice that is allowed under state law for medical, personal, or religious concerns. In Clark County, during the 2013-14 school year, the exemption rate was 6.8 percent — the vast majority of those cited “personal” reasons — and 22 public schools had rates of 10 percent or higher.

Those local numbers exceed the threshold for “herd immunity,” which refers to the fact that when a sufficient portion of the population is vaccinated against an infectious disease, it is unlikely for that disease to spread. Herd immunity protects those who cannot be immunized, such as infants or those with other medical conditions, and Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health director, said in February, “It’s a pretty dangerous situation to have exemption rates that are well above herd-immunity levels.” With students returning indoors and spending time in close quarters with other youngsters, it is imperative that parents consider not only their child’s health but the health of those around them.

Meanwhile, parents also should be cognizant of student safety as they begin the daily commute to and from and near schools. Evergreen Public Schools is welcoming roughly 26,000 students this week, while Vancouver Public Schools will open its doors to about 23,000 students. Add in smaller public districts and numerous private schools in the area, and streets that have offered smooth sailing throughout the summer will be clogged with motorists and pedestrians. Particularly near elementary schools, many of those pedestrians are small and are still growing accustomed to watching out for traffic — calling for extra caution on the part of drivers.

As another school year begins, a bit of attention from adults can help assure a safe and successful educational experience for students — both in and out of the classroom.