By Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent
When the Seattle Times released a tool on its website in early February that showed vaccination rates based on 2011-12 school year — and only one of the six Jewish day schools showed that it had provided data — anxious and upset parents lit up the Internet with their questions and concerns about who and what their children might be exposed to. Current data, however, tell a more complete story.
Of the six Jewish day schools in King County who reported their vaccination rates to the Washington Department of Health, four reported in time for the 2014 cutoff and two missed last year’s Nov.1 deadline, but all had reported as of 2013 and all are within the 90 percent vaccination exemption rate that the DOH prescribed in its latest 2011 law update.
While the vaccination debate continues to rage around contentious and conflicting values — those who support the parental right to decide vs. proponents of the public health as a priority argument and the herd immunity advocates vs. the so-called adherents to a herd mentality are dug in for a fight.
“We collect immunization data from our parents annually,” Amy Adler, the Jewish Day School’s director of admission and tuition assistance, told The Jewish Sound. With 197 students, the largest K–8 population in the county, only 3 percent of parents submitted personal exemption forms for their children in 2013, the last year it reported.
“We require all parents to complete an immunization form or an exemption,” she said.
Washington’s exemption rate was one of the highest in the country — 6.2 percent — before the newest version of the law took effect, according to state’s DOH 2009-2010 figures. Most states are now closer to the 3 percent exemption rate.
“We collect data annually, since no child can begin the school year without the school having their most current immunization records,” said Shoshi Bilavsky, head of school at the Seattle Jewish Community School.
Of the 94 students enrolled in SJCS in 2013, slightly over 3 percent opted for personal exemptions.
Vaccinations have become an issue in light of a measles outbreak at Disneyland in January that affected children across the country. On Feb. 10, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America stepped into the fray, issuing a formal statement saying that it “strongly urges all parents to vaccinate their healthy children on the timetable recommended by their pediatrician.”
Since 2011, Washington State’s law allows parents who want to decline vaccinations for their children to opt out for religious, personal, philosophical, or medical reasons, but they have to have documentary paperwork.
To get a medical exemption, a doctor has to sign off on each vaccine category on a certificate of exemption. For a religious waiver, parents must document their faith group on a different section of the same certificate and sign off on their membership status.
Parents have 30 days to vaccinate a child and get the paperwork into the school. During that time, the child can attend school on a conditional basis.
“We do not deny admission to those students whose families have opted out,” said Rabbi Bernie Fox, head of school at the Northwest Yeshiva High School on Mercer Island, which has 74 students and reported a 1.8 percent personal exemption rate in 2013. “We require submittal of the documentation required by the state. Our policies are guided by state law. We do encourage all families to vaccinate their students.”
Whether you’re a “pro-vaxxer” or an “anti-vaxxer,” neither side accepts the other’s evidence for their position. Research statistics and clinical studies are discounted by both sides. Actor and model Jenny McCarthy may be one of the most hated proponents of the anti-vaxxers movement due to her widely publicized views that they are linked to the rise in childhood autism. Still, others who are pro-vaccines say they’re not sure they want to live in a country that would require vaccinations for all.
The Torah Day School, which has 93 students, also has a low rate of exemptions, 3.2 percent, and is the only Jewish day school that reported all of them to be on religious grounds.
In a letter home to parents concerning vaccinations, TDS’s interim head of school Rabbi Yona Margolese assured them that the school follows all state laws for vaccinations and reporting.
“In the event of any medical concern,” wrote Margolese in the letter shared with The Jewish Sound, “we are in contact with the Department of Public Health. In addition to TDS directly reporting any disease concerns, the pediatricians also report the name of the child, the diagnosis, and the school being attended. We then follow the advice of the Department of Public Health to the letter.”
TDS, however, said it does not require non-immunized children to stay home if there is an outbreak, although Washington State allows it.
Of the 152 K–8 students enrolled at the Seattle Hebrew Academy (nearly 70 preschool students are enrolled at the school as well), the data showed 37 personal exemptions for 2013 — a 24.3 percent exemption rate.
SHA’s head of school Rivy Poupko Kletenik said that percentage dropped to 5.7 percent for families that declined the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, all citing personal exemptions.
“As of now SHA’s percentage of exempt families is well below the percentage of concern,” Kletenik told The Jewish Sound.
In 2014, the Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder reported a student body size of 58 students and a 1.8 percent personal exemption rate, according to King County Records.