Vote No SB 535- Uphold Childhood Immunizations

Support our kids to stay free from measles, polio, pertussis and other preventable diseases! West Virginia is a leader when it comes to childhood immunization rate coverages, and it shows in the fact that my family in the decades we have been here, have been blessed to not experience or see a measles, pertussis (whooping cough), or polio case or outbreak. As a young working parent it is reassuring that our kids are able to attend school in a protected environment from preventable diseases. In 2019 when 31 states experienced measles outbreaks and a few had a polio case in schools, West Virginia had none! I was unaware until recently, that just because I and my child may be immunized from measles, polio and pertussis and other eradicated diseases, does not mean that we would never be able to contract the disease. What I found is that in order to have protection for even vaccinated there are thresholds for certain diseases. For example, states need to have 95% of population vaccinated against measles to keep it from spreading not only to unvaccinated but also the vaccinated. For polio that threshold is 80%. So for example, if 5% of parents decided not to immunize their children against the measles, we could see not only unvaccinated contract the disease, but also vaccinated, and if 20% of parents decided not to immunize their children against polio, we could see the same disruption. Just like recently in Washington state when over 800 kids in one county were out of school and daycares due to a large measles outbreak due to their lax immunizations for school aged kids. This should concern not just parents, but the elderly, our teachers, our healthcare providers and hospitals that preventable diseases could rear their ugly heads in West Virginia. Our education system already has it’s struggles and affects our ability to recruit young professionals and business to the state, I cannot imagine how the spreading of contagious diseases like polio, measles and pertussis in our schools could affect those recruitment efforts. This legislative session I have seen multiple introduced bills in the House and Senate that could jeopardize West Virginians, one of those in particular is SB 535 which would disrupt our daily lives, our children’s education, parent’s ability to provide for their families, hospitals and healthcare providers to be at risk not only for their lives and their families, and most importantly affect our economy. As four states have followed West Virginia’s lead in the last three years, as states and especially hard working families without our laws continue to battle disruptions from measles, pertussis and potential polio outbreaks, they look to solutions like West Virginia to keep not only their people healthy but also their economy and way of life!