Washington state health officials declare whooping cough epidemic, seek CDC help as cases soar

AP ^ | May 10, 2012 | Staff

[C19fan]

Washington state’s worst outbreak of whooping cough in decades has prompted health officials to declare an epidemic, seek help from federal experts and urge residents to get vaccinated amid worry that cases of the highly contagious disease could spike much higher.

It’s the first state to declare a whooping cough, or pertussis, epidemic since 2010, when California had more than 9,000 cases, including 10 deaths. Washington has had 10 times the cases reported in 2011, and so has Wisconsin with nearly 2,000 cases this year, though that state has not declared an epidemic.

[C19fan]

The CDC claims the epidemic has nothing to do with Luddites who won't get vaccines for them and their children but I find it odd the outbreak is in birkenstock wearing Washington.

[joe fonebone]

whooping cough was all but extinct, until the “ Vaccines are killing out kids “ crowd got a voice...

[Clara Lou]

The birkenstock crowd, like the Luddites, like to go natural. Not too surprising, really.

[Tailback]

Probably most cases occur in communities with large immigrant populations. California, Wisconsin, and Washington all have large agricultural presences.

Just guessing...

[C19fan]

I was thinking the same thing but there is no mention of where the outbreaks are occurring in Washington.

[MEGoody]

whooping cough was all but extinct, until the “ Vaccines are killing out kids “ crowd got a voice.

Agreed. Then you add to that the illegals who are coming from countries where the population typically doesn't get such vaccinations, and you get an epidemic.

[Clara Lou]

You could be right, but the thing is that those kids who are school-age have to present their immunization records to the school nurse. In Texas public schools, you show ‘em (the records) or you hold ‘em (the kids) until you do. Then you have the whole truancy thing going on.

So, I wonder what age-group is hardest hit?

[matginzac]

A friend of mine from church is still recovering from a bout with whooping cough...
she’s an adult, good health, never had a problem with it before...
and it knocked the daylights out of her...
very scarey.

[Anima Mundi]

A little red meat, a little sunshine and a lot less anger surrounding them could help.

[Jack Hydrazine]

How do you know it is in the Birkenstock-wearing demographic?

[Wayne07]

The least vaccinated county in California is Marin, which is the richest and most liberal. The least vaccinated schools on California are the private "progressive" schools. There is a very close correlation between being a highly educated liberal moron and not vaccinating your kid.

That said, I'm dad to say there are quite a few anti vaccine kooks here on free republic.

[bicyclerepair]

I know kids need vac papers for school.

I will NEVER get a flu shot. Just saying.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Yes, there are several Leftist FReepers here on FR.

[Liberty Tree Surgeon]

NOTE: I’M NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD NOT GET VACCINATED - HAVE TO MAKE THIS STATEMENT UP FRONT TO AVOID TYPICAL RESPONSE FROM FOLKS WHO DO NOT READ ENTIRE POST

It’s amazing that a Freeper who will rail against government mandating a hundred things because the government says it’s good for you will suddenly turn an about-face when discussing injecting stuff into their children and themselves without being apprised of the risks (and there are risks).

And before you argue there are no risks, please explain the existence of the US vaccine court and the case files anyone can review showing findings and cash settlements. Then explain the fine print on the bottles themselves.

Once that’s done, you’ll actually be informed, and can proceed to take the shots as a citizen, not a subject, after making a choice to do so.

[Wayne07]

California, and I assume most other states, offer vaccine exemptions to parents. According to this excerpt from teh LA TImesin 2009, about 2% of Kindergarteners now use the waiver to get in without being vaccinated. I assume the number now is higher, and also some parents probably don't get the waiver and just fake the forms..

In all, more than 10,000 kindergartners started school last fall with vaccine exemptions, up from about 8,300 the previous school year. In 1997, when enrollment was higher, the number of exempted kindergartners was 4,318.

Statewide, only 2% of kindergartners had exemptions. But The Times found they were enrolled in a relatively small number of schools. Parents who sign affidavits saying vaccines are “contrary to my beliefs” are most likely to send their children to schools in affluent areas -- many of them public charter schools and non-Catholic private schools.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Do you have a link?

[Wayne07]

I wish it were just leftists here that were the vaccine kooks, but it seems to run deeper than that. Looking at the list of schools in California and their vaccination rate, a lot of the lowest rates seem to come from small christian academies.

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/2010IZRateTable.pdf

[Wayne07]

I can explain the existence of the vaccine court in one sentence: Idiots who don’t understand the difference between correlation and causation end up creating bureaucracies that waste everyone’s time and money.

[CrashCole]

Here in Longmont Colorado, a whooping cough ‘epidemic’ is also being reported in the public schools. However, according to last night's news story, the concern is that many of the children that come down with whooping cough HAVE been vaccinated.

[Liberty Tree Surgeon]

Link to US Gov site: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CHIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uscfc.uscourts.gov%2Fvaccine-programoffice-special-masters&ei=PFStT8rODYfs8wTi8Jz9DA&usg=AFQjCNH9Ftqqw3zsFM-VSySy3huXCgny-A.