Rob AriasSenator Barbara Boxer made an appearance at the Head Start program located at the Ralph Hawley Middle School promoting her bill that would require children in the federally funded pre-school program nationwide to be immunized. Boxer chose the Emeryville location because of the program’s 100% immunization rate.
Meanwhile, WIRED.com is reporting that the Pixar Childcare Center in Berkeley has only a 43% complete immunization rate with only 2.3% claiming a “personal belief exemption” required by the CDC. Just over two-thirds of children there got the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine or “MMR”. These figures are being challenged by some netizens who claim this is the result of outdated paperwork:
@TheEvilleEye @WIRED It jumped to a conclusion that the level of paperwork filing accurately reflected the actual level of vaccination.
— Daniel McCoy (@dsmccoy) February 19, 2015
UPDATE: Pixar and Google Employees Are Vaccinating Their Kids, Say Pixar and Google
In Emeryville, Sen. Barbara Boxer slams anti-vaccination parents
Sen. Barbara Boxer pummeled parents who refuse to vaccinate their children during a tour of a YMCA Head Start school Wednesday where she promoted her bill requiring children in the program nationwide to be immunized.
Boxer made the comments in the midst of a national measles outbreak that started in California. She criticized parents who are not vaccinating their children because of unfounded concerns spread by people outside the medical establishment.
“All I’m saying is, we have doctors we can trust and you should listen to them and not some quack who comes up with a theory that is disproven,” Boxer said. “I say to all those people who have a theory that has been disproven, you are not acting in the right way for your family or for society. People don’t understand how dangerous this disease is. It blows my mind. You are not only endangering your child, but others and that is not right.”
Read more on SJ Mercury News →
The Sickeningly Low Vaccination Rates at Silicon Valley Day Cares
The scientists, technologists, and engineers who populate Silicon Valley and the California Bay Area deserve their reputation as innovators, building entire new economies on the strength of brains and imagination. But some of these people don’t seem to be vaccinating their children.
A WIRED investigation shows that some children attending day care facilities affiliated with prominent Silicon Valley companies have not been completely vaccinated against preventable infectious diseases. At least, that’s according to a giant database from the California Department of Public Health, which tracks the vaccination rates at day care facilities and preschools in the state. We selected more than 20 large technology and health companies in the Bay Area and researched their day care offerings. Of 12 day care facilities affiliated with tech companies, six—that’s half—have below-average vaccination rates, according to the state’s data.
Read more on WIRED.com →
