Schoolchildren wait in line for immunization shots at a child health station in New York City, N.Y., in 1944. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children (known colloquially as anti-vaxxers) are a popular conversation topic. The subject’s potential to generate heated debate is irresistible, though many argue we shouldn’t dignify it with conversation at all. Still it appears the anti-vaccination movement doesn’t go much beyond talk around here — statistics show that the vast majority of Richardson ISD parents are vaccinating their children, as is recommended by doctors and scientists and informed people everywhere.
While students may seek exemption for medical reasons, all states have laws requiring specific vaccines for school-aged children. Some states, Texas included, allow families to opt out of vaccination requirements by claiming a “philosophical exemption,” based on personal, moral or religious beliefs.
Families in the Richardson ISD may file for an immunization waiver, according to the district handbook. A parent can enroll her child in an RISD school without the proper immunizations if they fill out a waiver for “reasons of conscious.”
The Dallas Morning News’ interactive story on vaccines pinpoints how many students at North Texas public school campuses have opted out due to reasons of conscious. The story, spurred by the rise of opt-outs in recent years and a measles outbreak scare in Plano ISD, includes a number of helpful graphics and an easy search tool to find out your campus’ opt-out rate.
“… the small number opting out, in Texas and across the country, has grown over the past few years,” according to co-reporters Jeffrey Weiss and Seema Yasmin. “It has grown large enough that illnesses once thought to be all but eliminated in the United States are flaring up in short outbreaks.”
To make research especially easy for our Richardson ISD-dwelling readers, we’ve included at the bottom of this article a list of Lake Highlands (and surrounding) area schools along with the number of unvaccinated students, based on philosophical exemption. (If you are in the Dallas ISD, read the East Dallas version of this post).
The source story says that — based on the data — schools’ and public health officials’ concern about mass outbreaks is low “at this point.”
Texas schools have fairly high percentages of fully vaccinated children, and the “herd immunity,” explained and illustrated in the story, can help prevent outbreaks.
The story references a study finding that “white, college-educated parents living in households with an annual income of more than $75,000 are more likely to choose not to vaccinate their children.”
To back up that claim, a quick glance at the RISD data shows schools such as Skyview and Northlake — made up of families from lower-income households — have hardly any unvaccinated students.
How would your school fare in an outbreak?
Lake Highlands High School: 11 out of 1760 students exempt
Berkner High School: 22 out of 2456 students exempt
Richardson High School: 17 out of 2650
Westwood Junior High: 4 out of 660
Forest Meadow Junior High: 2 out of 772 students exempt
Lake Highlands Junior High: 6 out of 781
Liberty Junior High School: 7 out of 641
Lake Highlands Elementary: 14 out of 689
Moss Haven: 4 out of 461
Merriman Park Elementary 8 out of 544
Math/Science/Tech Magnet School: 10 out of 559
Hamilton Park: 12 out of 682
Richardson Heights Elementary School: 5 out of 460
Audelia Creek: 2 out of 684
O’Henry Elementary School: 2 out of 439
Wallace Elementary School: 12 out of 853
Northlake: 2 out of 603
White Rock Elementary School: 9 out of 881
Skyview: 1 out of 757
Recommended reading—The Atlantic has an interesting feature about how schools deal with anti-vaccination parents.
