CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / 2017
Nurse Jennifer Idica prepares a vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) at the Kaiser Permanente Honolulu Medical Office.
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Measles is very infectious. If an infected person walks into an auditorium with 100 people, 90 of those people could be infected.
The measles vaccine is only 97% effective, so several of those people, even if vaccinated, could still become ill.
One out of a 1,000 of those infected people or children could die. More could have permanent brain damage from measles-related encephalitis.
The highest numbers of unvaccinated students in Hawaii are in some of our most expensive private and charter schools.
The chance of your child being infected by measles is much higher, if they attend one of these schools.
That might come into play, when considering which schools to send your children to, based upon published Hawaii school student vaccination data.
Joel Aycock
Keaau
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