Carl Krawitt has watched his son, Rhett, now 6, fight leukemia for the past 4 and a half聽years. For more than three of those years, Rhett has undergone round after round of chemotherapy. Last year he finished chemotherapy, and doctors say he is in remission.
Now, there鈥檚 a new threat: measles.
Rhett cannot be vaccinated, because his immune system is still rebuilding. It may be months more before his body is healthy enough to get all his immunizations. Until then, he depends on everyone around him for protection 鈥� what鈥檚 known as聽.
But Rhett lives in Marin County, Calif., a county with the聽聽in the Bay Area and among the highest in the state. This school year, 6.45 percent of children in Marin have a personal belief exemption, which allows parents to lawfully send their children to school unvaccinated against communicable diseases like measles, polio, whooping cough and more.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very emotional for me,鈥� Carl Krawitt said. 鈥淚f you choose not to immunize your own child and your own child dies because they get measles, OK, that鈥檚 your responsibility, that鈥檚 your choice. But if your child gets sick and gets my child sick and my child dies, then your action has harmed my child.鈥�
Rhett Krawitt, 6, outside his school in Tiburon, Calif. Seven percent of the children in his school are not vaccinated.
(Photo courtesy of Carl Krawitt)
Krawitt is taking action of his own. His son attends Reed Elementary in Tiburon, a school with a 7 percent personal belief exemption rate. (The statewide average in California is 2.5 percent). Krawitt had previously worked with the school nurse to make sure that all the children in his son鈥檚 class were fully vaccinated. He said the school was very helpful and accommodating.
Now Krawitt and his wife, Jodi, have emailed the district鈥檚 superintendent, requesting that the district 鈥渞equire immunization as a condition of attendance, with the only exception being those who cannot medically be vaccinated.鈥�
Carl Krawitt provided me with Superintendent Steven Herzog鈥檚 response. Herzog didn鈥檛 directly address their query, instead saying: 鈥淲e are monitoring the situation closely and will take whatever actions necessary to ensure the safety of our students.鈥�
Typically, a response to health emergencies rests with county health officers. During the current measles outbreak, unvaccinated students at Huntington Beach High School in Orange County聽out of school for three weeks after a student there contracted measles. It鈥檚 one way to contain an outbreak.
But those steps were taken in the face of a confirmed case at the school.
Marin County health officer Matt Willis said he was going to check with the state to see what precedent there was to keep unvaccinated kids out of school even if there were no confirmed cases. 鈥淭his is partly a legal question,鈥� he said.
Right now, there are no cases of measles anywhere in Marin and no suspected cases either. Still, 鈥渋f the outbreak progresses and we start seeing more and more cases,鈥� Willis said, 鈥渢hen this is a step we might want to consider鈥� 鈥� requiring unvaccinated children to stay home, even without confirmed cases at a specific school.
Rhett has been treated at the University of California, San Francisco, and his oncologist there, Dr. Robert Goldsby, said that he is likely at higher risk of complications if he were to get measles.
鈥淲hen your immune system isn鈥檛 working as well, it allows many different infections to be worse,鈥� Goldsby said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just Rhett. There are hundreds of other kids in the Bay Area that are going through cancer therapy, and it鈥檚 not fair to them. They can鈥檛 get immunized; they have to rely on their friends and colleagues and community to help protect them.鈥�
Goldsby pointed to the number of people who, when facing a friend or family member who receives a challenging diagnosis, will immediately ask how they can help. 鈥淢any families will say, 鈥榃hat can I do to help? What can I do to help?鈥� 鈥� he said, repeating it for emphasis. 鈥淥ne of the main things they can do is make sure their [own] kids are vaccinated to protect others.鈥�
Rhett, just weeks after starting chemotherapy in 2010.
(Photo courtesy of Carl Krawitt)
Krawitt has been speaking up about vaccination for a long time now. He told me about going to a parent meeting at his daughter鈥檚 school just before the start of the school year, where a staff member reminded parents not to send peanut products to school, since a child or children had an allergy. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important your kids don鈥檛 bring peanuts, because kids can die,鈥� Krawitt recalls the group being told.
The irony was not lost on him. He told me he immediately responded, 鈥淚n the interest of the health and safety of our children, can we have the assurance that all the kids at our school are immunized?鈥�
He found out later from a friend that other parents who were present were 鈥渕ad that you asked the question, because they don鈥檛 immunize their kids.鈥�
This story is part of reporting partnership that includes , and Kaiser Health News.