June 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 58

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Westchester County, New York, provides
this immunization tracking form to park
and rec agencies and privately operated
camps in the county.

autism in children. Yet, despite a
50-year history of a high degree of
proven safety, there is a growing
movement of so-called " anti-vaxxers, " who have persistently refused
to have their children vaccinated.
Whether because of fear of autism that is linked to the vaccine
or for personal, philosophical or
religious reasons, opponents have
been passionate about refusing to
56

Parks & Recreation

allow their children to be vaccinated. Fueled by internet memes, their
resistance has continued, if not
grown stronger, even in the face of
growing local measles outbreaks.
Public health officials are deeply concerned. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) recently issued a statement by Peter Marks,
M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA's
Center for Biologics Evaluation and
Research, supporting the safety of
the MMR vaccine. It says, in part:
" Large well-designed studies have
confirmed the safety and effective-

| J U N E 2 0 1 9 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

ness of the MMR vaccine and have
demonstrated that administration
of the vaccine is not associated with
the development of autism.... We
cannot state strongly enough - the
overwhelming scientific evidence
shows that vaccines are among the
most effective and safest interventions to both prevent individual illness and protect public health. "
Faced with the prospect of rapidly expanding measles outbreaks,
many states are moving to curtail or eliminate such non-medical exemptions, and to tighten
record-keeping about who holds
such exemptions. After an outbreak of measles in 2015, which
was traced to Disneyland, the state
of California eliminated non-medical exemptions. Bills in several other states, including Washington,
Arizona, Maine, Minnesota and
New York, are making their way
through their respective legislatures
to end non-medical exemptions for
the MMR vaccine.
Although bills to eliminate
non-medical exemptions are gaining traction, they are facing strong
political headwinds, especially
from those who oppose vaccinations on religious or philosophical
grounds. According to AP News,
the Maine CDC reported data
that showed that philosophical
reasons were listed by parents of
the overwhelming majority of the
2,000 Maine students who had exemptions. Some state legislators
appear to loathe being seen voting
to deny personal and parental freedoms. However, measles outbreaks
are continuing to expand, and the
number of cases is still rising.
As of this writing, the CDC now
confirms 26 states with active measles cases, and the greatest number
of cases since measles was declared
eradicated in 2000. Not surprising-
June 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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