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Friday, May 04, 2012 By Catherine E. Lemel, staff writer/reporter
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Deep inside the rooms of the Vermont legislative courthouses debates are being had on whether parents should have the option of declining vaccination for their children. According to www.time.com the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that Vermont has one of the highest rates of vaccination exemption in the US. Many people also say that it is no longer a coincidence that Vermont is seeing outbreaks of diseases that the vaccinations cover, such as whooping cough.
During the 2010-11 school year, which is the latest data available to Time magazine, Alaska had the most exemptions for vaccinations at nine percent of kindergarten students. Colorado had seven percent of kindergarten students exempted from vaccinations and Vermont and Washington state both had a six percent exemption rate.
Many argue that if a child does not receive the necessary vaccines that they will be more susceptible to the harmful viruses others however, say that different people react differently to the vaccines. They argue that someone with the vaccinations could be just as susceptible as someone without the vaccinations,depending on the reaction to the vaccine.
Jan Galloway, science teacher at Brevard High School, said that children should be required to have vaccinations because it is a matter of public health and safety. Galloway said, “if people are exempt then there could be a resurfacing of deadly diseases and the strains could be mutated to resist the vaccinations.” Galloway also said that vaccines should be enforced but not be pushed on people with out being studied thoroughly. She said that there are many risks in the vaccine itself that could make people more sick if not studied very carefully.
Adria Hardy, math teacher at BHS, said that parents should be able to choose what is best for their kids but vaccines are very important as well. Many of the disease that are treated by vaccinations are deadly and if a child is not given the vaccine for one of these potentially deadly diseases then children might start dying. “Vaccines are important” she said, “especially when they save lives.”
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