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"<p>\n\tA national study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday shows parents in the state of Washington are choosing not to vaccine their kindergartners at a higher rate than anywhere else in the nation.<br />\n\t<br />\n\tThe 6.2 percent opt-out rate is below national standards and may endanger residents and children who are not yet fully immunized, the Seattle Times reports.<br />\n\t<br />\n\tState health officials point to two babies who died of whooping cough in 2010 and a 2-year-old in Kitsap County who was diagnosed with the measles last week.<br />\n\t<br />\n\t&quot;Most of today&#39;s parents weren&#39;t around to see how bad diseases like measles and whooping cough were before vaccines helped bring them under control,&quot; Mary Selecky, the state secretary of health, said in a news release, according to the Seattle Times. &quot;We&#39;ve done a good job fending off those diseases with vaccines, but we can&#39;t be complacent; we&#39;re seeing them start to make a comeback and too many of our kids are vulnerable.&quot;<br />\n\t<br />\n\tThe study ranked the percentage of kindergartners opting out of some or all immunizations in 2009-2010. Washington had the most, followed by three other states with higher-than five percent opt-out rates - Vermont, Alaska and Oregon. The national rate is less than two percent, with Tennessee and Alabama possessing rates of 0.5 percent, according to the Seattle Times.<br />\n\t<br />\n\tThe Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, in an effort to boost vaccination rates around the world, will soon announce a new, local program that will educate doctors on parents&rsquo; questions and concerns about vaccination called the Vaccination Northwest program.</p>\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/stories/510532019-washington-has-highest-vaccine-opt-out-rate>