Editorial: Is Sonoma immunized from the realities of vaccines?

When Jon Stewart ripped Marin County a new one last week during the Daily Show’s coverage of the measles outbreak, he cited the “mindful stupidity” of “science-denying affluent California liberals” for turning Mickey’s Toontown in Disneyland into Mickey’s Rubeola-town in a manner of days.

And Stewart’s statewide inclusiveness was certainly broad-minded. I mean, we in Sonoma, Napa and other counties in Northern California practice that same sort of mindfulness beyond the prestige of the 415 area code.

But before I join him in championing what one immunization-denier I know calls “the measles craziness” – or what the rest of us call science-based conclusions – I think it’s fair to point out that, as of this writing, 102 people in the United States have had a reported case of measles since Jan. 1 – that’s a lot compared to 2000 when we thought we’d eradicated it in the U.S. However, that’s still not a lot of people. It’s slower to spread these days than 50 years ago because, well, most people have vaccinations.

But, most isn’t all, and the general consensus is that the “most” part of that is the fault of the free-thinking post-hippy Bay Area mindset that so mistrusts the American medical establishment that they’d rather see their kids in bed with Big Fever than with Big Pharma.

And while the North Bay does have a comparatively high rate of “personal belief exemptions” – the form parents sign to allow their kids at school without vaccinations – a look at a website called shotsforschool.org reveals a more telling picture of the immunization map.

A search by zip code on the site brings up a map pinpointing all the schools within a 25 mile radius of Sonoma – and color codes them based on the percentage of reported vaccinations and number of personal belief exemptions from 2013. And, for the most part, the North Bay is quite “safe,” according to the website, when it comes to immunized defense – the majority of Marin, Petaluma and Napa schools rate above 90 percent vaccinated. Sonoma Valley rates particularly “safe” with kindergartners at Dunbar, Presentation, Prestwood, Sassarini, St. Francis, El Verano and Flowery all near 100 percent. The Montessori-based Sonoma Charter School checks in at a respectable 95 percent, as well.

However, a look at the schools that are described as “most vulnerable” – below 70 percent full immunization – are, with little surprise, the Waldorf-inspired schools, where families are attracted to the nature-based early-learning curriculums (and in many cases the off-the-charts test scores of the upper grades). With that, however, comes a higher degree of immunization infidels. For instance, only 69 percent of Woodland Star kids are fully vaccinated – and that’s better than most. Stonebridge in Napa checks in at 60 percent; Novato Charter School is 65 percent; Live Oak in Petaluma is an eyebrow-raising 44 percent. Things get worse as the road turns toward Point Reyes – only 3 of the 19 kids at San Geronimo Valley Elementary are fully vaccinated.

As it happens, my kids are in a Waldorf curriculum, and we’ve found the family population at the school to be highly educated and more affluent than we expected. Any mindfulness of the parents isn’t one of stupidity, as Stewart joked, but it is curiously gullible when it comes to unsubstantiated vaccine horror stories and debunked myths about autism.

What isn’t so curious, however, is that when unimmunized kids come in contact with the measles virus – as happened in Disneyland, now known as the “scratchiest place on earth” – it spreads like wild fire. And, unfortunately, the virus doesn’t differentiate between those with a personal-beliefs exemption, and those with health-related exemptions – like kids already battling disease and whose compromised immune systems wouldn’t take well to a round of MMR shots, and even worse with the actual measles.

Because, as Stewart so aptly put it:

“California, if your crazy wellness ideas only affected you, I’d be fine with that. Have all the fair-trade organic espresso enemas you want.

“But,” he concluded, “your choice puts other people in jeopardy.”

Now there’s something to be mindful about.