It has been everywhere in the news. It is back to school time, and media outlets are reminding parents to get their children immunized. Public health officials say that vaccination rates are up across the nation and that fewer people are opting out. The national data also showed that just 1.7 percent of parents in 2014 sought exemptions from state vaccination requirements.

Yet within our own enlightened state of Washington, the news isn’t so good. It is one of 11 states with vaccine exemption rates above four percent; the fourth-highest rate of exemption in the nation. The Centers for Disease Control found that state exemption rates range from 0.1 percent in Mississippi (which does not allow exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons) to 6.5 percent in Idaho. In order to protect the larger community, vaccination rates must reach 95 percent.

Yes, some people cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. But everyone else needs to get with the program. KUOW reported that last year, public health officials found that just two-thirds of toddlers in Washington state were fully vaccinated by age 3. Another news report indicated that in Seattle, only 81 percent of eligible children have received a polio vaccine. Polio! It is unimaginable that such a terrible disease, declared eradicated in the Americas, could return.

So far this year, 159 people in the United States got measles, including a handful in Washington state. Many were traced to the Disneyland outbreak. Of that number, 71 were unvaccinated or had an ‘unknown vaccination status’ (67). Twenty-nine of those unvaccinated were infants, who were still too young for the vaccines.

Those 29 babies did not have any choice in the matter. They and their parents had to rely on the majority who vaccinate not only to protect themselves — but also their families, neighbors and friends. That is what a community or civilization does.