at, it’s pretty broad now. It’s getting harder and harder to avoid places like Kroger, Meijer and all those general kind of places where people go for everyday shopping."
Tightening vaccine exemptions
Hornik said it's time for state lawmakers to take action to toughen up on vaccine exemptions for school-age children.
"We’re going to keep seeing increased numbers (of measles cases) until we take a stronger stand on these vaccinations," he said.
Michigan's public health code requires children enrolled in public or private schools, licensed day care centers and preschools to be vaccinated. Kindergartners must have immunizations for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chicken pox, and hepatitis B before they start school. Children entering seventh grade must also be vaccinated for meningococcal disease.
But if parents object to those required vaccinations for religious, philosophical or medical reasons, they can request a waiver to get an exemption. Michigan is among 17 states that allow vaccine exemptions for religious, philosophical and medical reasons.
Parents who want to opt out of vaccinating their kids must get a waiver from the county health department to enroll their children in school (unless they get a medical waiver). Only three states — California, West Virginia and Mississippi — limit vaccine exemptions to medical reasons alone.
Overall, 3.66% of Michigan schoolchildren in 2017 had vaccine waivers that allowed them to skip one or all of the state-required vaccines or allowed them to deviate from the mandated immunization schedule, according to the MDHHS.
But in some parts of Michigan, as many as 1 in 10 school-age children have gotten waivers to exempt them from getting at least one school-mandated vaccine. In Oakland County, where the current measles outbreak is concentrated, the vaccination waiver rate was 4.8% in 2017, the latest year for which data was available.
“I do think long-term, we have to try to bring reason back to the discussion about vaccines because I think the problem is that when we just allow sort of this open refusal to vaccinate, although some people would say religious or philosophical refusal, it creates these populations that are at risk when outbreaks occur like this one," McGrath said.
“And it makes it really hard to get control of it. It would be easier if everyone who can be vaccinated would just be up to date on their vaccines because we have vulnerable patients in the community who are immunocompromised, including kids. There’s more and more kids receiving transplants than ever before. Those are kids who are on immunosuppression; they can’t get vaccines. We have to give protection to the most fragile patients.”
Hornik advocates for eliminating the philosophical and religious reasons for vaccine exemptions.
"In Michigan, the only thing that’s really going to help this and change it is if we statewide make a rule," said Hornik. "That’s what’s working in other states."
He said that for all but two religious groups, vaccines are not a problem.
"There are only two that we know of: One is the Dutch Reformed Church. They’re urging no vaccines," Hornik said. Christian Scientists, he said, also oppose vaccines, however, "even those ones are debatable. ... And the whole philosophical thing is a fallback for people.
"I would love it if our Legislature took that up," Hornik said, and passed a law that would eliminate religious and philosophical objections to immunizations. So would the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he said.
"We are lobbying on behalf of kids every day," he said. "This is at the top of the list."
Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct a misspoken statement about which religious groups oppose vaccinations.