California is in the grips of a full-blown whooping cough epidemic mostly because parents aren’t vaccinating their kids.
Salon reports that there have been more than 3,500 cases this year with more than 800 cases reported in the last week alone.
Scientists there are blaming a large part of the outbreak on the state’s policy allowing parents to forego vaccination for their kids if it conflicts with their religious beliefs.
California’s personal belief exemption, infectious disease specialist David Witt told SF Gate, has created a “reservoir of unvaccinated children”; state elementary, middle and high schools have all seen outbreaks this year.
“Unlike some other vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles, neither vaccination nor illness from pertussis offers lifetime immunity,” Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “However, vaccination is still the best defense against this potentially fatal disease.”
