March 19, 2024 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Letter To The Editor: SMMUSD Health & Safety DAC Supports Vaccinations:

Dear Editor,

We, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Health and Safety District Advisory Committee, strongly support the school district’s efforts in educating the public regarding the importance of vaccination given the recent cases of Measles we’ve seen in the district.

The Health and Safety District Advisory Committee is composed of a group of community members and parents that advises the district on issues related to health and safety.

Measles is a highly contagious disease spread through coughing and sneezing. It can lead to serious complications like hearing loss (1/10 cases, can result in hearing loss), pneumonia (1/20 cases, most common cause of death), encephalitis (1/1000 cases, results from swelling of the brain), and even death (1/1000 cases).

The disease is preventable with the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine and was thought to be eradicated in the United States since 2000 until several recent cases, which include the infection of a baseball coach at Santa Monica high school and an infant at a childcare center located on the high school’s campus.

In our community immunization rates have fallen low enough that the disease has resurfaced.

While there are those who are unimmunized due to medical reasons (people who are immunocompromised due to a medical condition or medical treatment, as well as infants under the age of 12 months who are not candidates because of their age), our community contains large numbers of unvaccinated children because parents have opted out of vaccinations because of personal belief.

This has allowed our community to lose the protection of herd immunity and freedom from measles. Unfortunately, the children who are most threatened are unimmunized because of medical reasons, not parental choice.

Our committee supports our district’s strong efforts to encourage parents to make sure that those children who can be vaccinated are vaccinated.

Additionally, we look forward to any legislation that will lead to increased vaccination rates, including legislation recently proposed by former School Board member and our current State Senator Ben Allen that would eliminate the personal belief exemption for vaccines.

Sion Roy MD

Chair

On behalf of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Health and Safety DAC

in Opinion
Related Posts

SM.a.r.t Column: Can California ARBs Balance Affordable Housing with Community Character in the Face of New Housing Laws?

March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024

By suggestion, I attended the March 4th ARB (Architectural Review Board) meeting that addressed the Gelson Lincoln Boulevard Project.  After...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Need for Safety

March 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Earlier this week, in the dark pre-dawn hours, a pair of thugs covered in masks and hoodies burst into the...

Film Review: The Oscar Landscape 2024

March 7, 2024

March 7, 2024

FILM REVIEWTHE OSCAR LANDSCAPE 2024A Look at the Choices – Academy Awards – March 10, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. on...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Five Saving Historic Santa Monica

March 3, 2024

March 3, 2024

Our beloved City is surrounded by many threats, from sea level rise to homelessness, to housing affordability, to cancerous overdevelopment,...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Gelson’s Looms Large

February 22, 2024

February 22, 2024

Our guest column this week is by SMCLC (the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City). SMCLC is a well-established...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Top Toady Town

February 18, 2024

February 18, 2024

Throughout history, from the ancient Romans and Assyrians to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, siege warfare has served as an...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The Sunset of Home Ownership

February 11, 2024

February 11, 2024

We are watching the sunset of our historical and cultural American dream of home ownership as we now are crossing...

SMa.r.t. Column: B(U)Y RIGHT

February 4, 2024

February 4, 2024

“By Right” state housing laws that give developers, in certain projects, the ability to ignore codes ‘by right.’ Well, that...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Serf City

January 28, 2024

January 28, 2024

Homelessness is a problem in California, and nowhere is this more evident than in our fair city, where the unhoused...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Bond Fatigue

January 22, 2024

January 22, 2024

Last week’s SMart article,  described two critical problems faced by our Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD): the declining...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Peace on Earth

December 27, 2023

December 27, 2023

We are all, by now, saturated with jingles, holiday cards, “ho ho ho’s,” countless commercial advertisements, and exhortations to feel...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Clock with Mayor Brock

December 17, 2023

December 17, 2023

I became Santa Monica’s Mayor on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, following a simple “switch of the chairs” transition with outgoing...

S.M.a.r.t Column: SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL 2024

December 10, 2023

December 10, 2023

Position:Seeking Santa Monica City Council Candidate(s) Introduction:Exciting opportunity for the right candidate(s) to work with like-minded Council members committed to...

S.M.a.r.t Column: ARB (NOT Ready to Build!)

December 3, 2023

December 3, 2023

Santa Monica City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), established in 1974, acts “…to preserve existing areas of natural beauty, cultural importance...

SMa.r.t. Column: We are thankful for….

November 27, 2023

November 27, 2023

SMa.r.t. would like to wish you all a great Thanksgiving with friends and family and also to thank its readers...