Vaccination Nation

I swear, the anti-vax movement is as awful and as selfish as it comes, exposing kids to measles and rubella and mumps and whooping cough because you read something on Facebook that one time. Amid a major measles outbreak in Washington State this month, people are actually rallying at the capitol in order to keep on hurting their kids.

With more than 50 cases of measles in Washington state, there's been a new push to change the law. Washington is one of 17 states that allow parents to refuse vaccines for philosophical reasons.

But on Friday, hundreds rallied to preserve their right not to vaccinate their children. Lawmakers heard arguments on a proposed bill that would ban the measles vaccine exemption for philosophical reasons. Thirty-two other states have similar laws.

Measles is so contagious that an unvaccinated person has a 90 percent chance of catching the disease if they're near someone who has it. The virus can survive for up to two hours in a room where an infected person sneezed.

Measles vaccination rates here, at the epicenter of the outbreak, are now up by 500 percent.

"I think we're seeing people rush to the doctor now because it's real and it's been growing every week. And so folks actually see a real threat," said Washington Secretary of Health John Wiesman.

But opponents of the bill still think the measles vaccine is a bigger threat than the disease itself.

"I don't feel I'm putting my child at risk. There's nothing that's going to change my mind on this on that specific vaccination," said mother Monique Murray.

If you don't vaccinate your kids, I feel child services should get involved, but that's just me.