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September 11, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Parents Weigh Decision to Vaccinate in Low-Rate Boulder, an Illness Reemerges" Boston Globe (www.boston.com/globe) (09/09/02) P. A3; Cada, Chryss

By going against the conventional advice of experts, some parents of children in the Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, Colo., may be putting the greater good of the community at risk for preventable diseases because they refuse to have their children vaccinated.  Approximately half of the 335 students at the school have received only some, if any, of their recommended childhood shots.  Since 1993, when 52 people in Boulder developed whooping cough, the disease has struck nearly 80 people annually, and now the disease is considered endemic to the area, according to Heath Harmon, communicable disease coordinator for Boulder County.  Surrounding communities are being struck as well, and many believe it is because of their neighbors in Boulder, where the lower vaccination rate is said to be triggering the resurgence of the disease.  Nationwide, the number of whooping cough cases is increasing, with 7,867 recorded in 2000, including 17 deaths, two of which were among infants in Colorado.

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