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Editorial: For students’ safety, vaccinate and slow down

Fri., Aug. 28, 2015

Barring a strike by Spokane teachers, school will be back in session for most students. Time for a primer on a couple of sensible public safety and health imperatives: Slow down in those school zones, and get your children vaccinated.

For motorists, opening day can be jarring because they’ve been used to breezing by schools all summer long. No more. About 30,000 students will be arriving at Spokane public schools Monday. Toss in all the other districts and private schools, and that’s a lot of pedestrians that drivers suddenly need to watch out for.

The school speed limit is 20 miles per hour, and fines can be hefty. They start at $222.

School start times are changing for most elementary and middle school students. For instance, elementary schools in Spokane will start 30 minutes earlier at 8:30 a.m. Middle schools start later, at 9 a.m. In addition, all of the Spokane Public Schools bus routes have been revised to account for the new start times, all-day kindergarten and other changes. Motorists may encounter buses picking up kids in new locations.

In short, the first couple of weeks may be confusing, so pay extra attention when behind the wheel.

Unfortunately, vaccinations have become somewhat of a political football because of irrational fears about the vaccines. But state law says children attending public schools must have current immunization records, and school districts have become more vigilant about enforcing the requirement.

Last spring, Spokane Public Schools began barring students without up-to-date records or a waiver on file. In April, Spokane had its first measles case in 21 years, a worker at a fast-food restaurant.

The fact that measles had been kept at bay for so long shows the effectiveness of immunization. But in recent years, some people began to believe the unproven claim that the measles vaccine was somehow linked to autism. It is not.

Measles cases began to re-emerge last year, starting at Disneyland, and the problem was exacerbated by lax laws that made it easier for parents to opt out of childhood immunizations.

For herd immunity to work best, the vaccination rate must be above 90 percent, the higher the better. Washington has had a relatively low rate because it’s one of the states where waivers are most easily obtained. Parents need only cite medical, personal or religious beliefs. If they invoke medical reasons, they need a medical provider’s signature. The most prevalent waiver is “personal,” which merely requires a parent’s signature.

In reaction to its measles outbreak and low vaccination rate, California adopted a stricter law this summer that eliminates waivers based on personal and religious beliefs. The Washington Legislature rejected a bill that would have ended the personal-belief waiver.

The Legislature should try again for the same reason drivers are required to slow down through school zones. It’s elementary.