Sask. daycares should turn away unvaccinated kids: poll

The majority of Saskatchewan residents believe daycares should refuse unvaccinated children, according to a new poll from Mainstreet Technologies.

The poll, which was released Friday, asked 1,997 people. The research comes amid a measles outbreak in Toronto and 14 states in the U.S.

“What’s concerning is 20 per cent of residents agree vaccines could cause autism and that 15 per cent don’t believe lower immunization rates will cause serious health problems. There are many children who cannot be immunized and who are depending on herd immunity for their well-being,” Quita Maggi, president of Mainstreet Technologies, said in the release.

It’s estimated that 95 per cent vaccination coverage is needed to maintain herd immunity, the term used to describe the situation in which enough people are vaccinated that the virus can’t continue to spread.

The research found 31 per cent of residents don’t believe parents should have a say in whether their children are vaccinated or not. Fifty-five per cent completely or somewhat agree that parents should have the ultimate say. Just over half (51 per cent) back allowing schools to refuse unvaccinated students.

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The measles count in Ontario rose Thursday, with health officials in Toronto reporting they found another adult infected with the highly contagious disease.

The infected person had received the recommended two doses of vaccine. While the measles vaccine is considered highly effective, about five per cent of people who get two doses may not be fully protected.

U.S. officials are learning Disneyland measles outbreak is far smaller than infections that raged in Ohio Amish country months earlier. There were 383 people that fell ill after unvaccinated Amish missionaries travelled to the Philippines and returned with the virus.

The Ohio episode drew far less attention, even though the number of cases was almost four times that of the Southern California outbreak, because it seemed to pose little threat outside insolated religious communities.

People born before 1970 — when measles vaccine use began — are assumed to have previously had the disease. Canada was able to stop domestic spread of the virus in the late 1990s. As a result, any measles cases that occur now are sparked by virus importation — in a returning Canadian or an infected visitor — or spread from the person who imported the virus.

– with files from the Canadian Press

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