Portland, OR: Anti-Science Leader (co-op, wedding, high school)

[karlsch]

"I talked to a public health official and asked him what's the best way to anticipate where there might be higher than normal rates of vaccine noncompliance, and he said take a map and put a pin wherever there's a Whole Foods. I sort of laughed, and he said, "No, really, I'm not joking." It's those communities with the Prius driving, composting, organic food-eating people."
The whole article:
Why the 'Prius Driving, Composting' Set Fears Vaccines | Science/AAAS | News

[mlkmnsgrl]

Originally Posted by karlsch

"I talked to a public health official and asked him what's the best way to anticipate where there might be higher than normal rates of vaccine noncompliance, and he said take a map and put a pin wherever there's a Whole Foods. I sort of laughed, and he said, "No, really, I'm not joking." It's those communities with the Prius driving, composting, organic food-eating people."
The whole article:
Why the 'Prius Driving, Composting' Set Fears Vaccines | Science/AAAS | News

Wow! At least in the South, that is NOT the message we get. It's those homeschooling uber-fundamentalists who hate the government and think vaccines use dead baby bodies. This is really interesting. Looking forward to the article once the (vaccinated) kids are in bed.

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by karlsch

"I talked to a public health official and asked him what's the best way to anticipate where there might be higher than normal rates of vaccine noncompliance, and he said take a map and put a pin wherever there's a Whole Foods. I sort of laughed, and he said, "No, really, I'm not joking." It's those communities with the Prius driving, composting, organic food-eating people."
The whole article:
Why the 'Prius Driving, Composting' Set Fears Vaccines | Science/AAAS | News

Here's a coupl
Oregon Has Highest Vaccine Exemption Rate In US . News | OPB

At some Oregon schools, many kids not vaccinated

The two highest rates in Oregon are the St. Thomas Becket Academy in Lane County at 72 percent and the Woodland Charter School in Josephine County at 69 percen(neither of these counties has a Whole Foods).

Most of the schools with the highest rates tend to be smaller private schools(like the Waldorf schools, which tend to have sort of weird parents and kids) and then Christian schools. A public high school like Grant High is in the middle of liberal Portland's heart yet--and not far from a Whole Foods(and parents in my neighborhood fight to get their kids into that school), yet the vaccination rates are fairly average.

The Slavic Christian Academy has a exempt rate of 63% and I doubt that's going to be a liberal, Prius driving crowd. So while there is a subsection of the population that's going to have vaccinated kids--it's not even only liberals.

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by karlsch

"I talked to a public health official and asked him what's the best way to anticipate where there might be higher than normal rates of vaccine noncompliance, and he said take a map and put a pin wherever there's a Whole Foods. I sort of laughed, and he said, "No, really, I'm not joking." It's those communities with the Prius driving, composting, organic food-eating people."
The whole article:
Why the 'Prius Driving, Composting' Set Fears Vaccines | Science/AAAS | News

Here's a couple of articles on where the rates are highest:
Oregon Has Highest Vaccine Exemption Rate In US . News | OPB

At some Oregon schools, many kids not vaccinated

The two highest rates in Oregon are the St. Thomas Becket Academy in Lane County at 72 percent and the Woodland Charter School in Josephine County at 69 percent(neither of these counties has a Whole Foods).

Most of the schools with the highest rates tend to be smaller private schools(like the Waldorf schools, which tend to have sort of weird parents and kids) and then Christian schools. A public high school like Grant High is in the middle of liberal Portland's heart(and parents in my neighborhood fight to get their kids into that school), yet the vaccination rates are fairly average.

The Slavic Christian Academy has a exempt rate of 63% and I doubt that's going to be a liberal, Prius driving crowd. So while there is a subsection of the population that's going to have vaccinated kids--it's not even only liberals, nor is it necessarily only in Portland.

[PNW-type-gal]

If you read up on it, the problem tends to be far-left and far-right - back around where the political curve bends back in on itself and conspiracy theories are popular. It tends to take slightly different forms and different talking points - "freedom" vs "Big Pharma" - but the end result is the same.

There are not very many elected Democrats who hold anti-vax views, though, compared to, say, Chris Christie and Rand Paul (although, to be fair, it is mostly just Republicans with long-shot presidential aspirations who have waded into this).

[Yankeemama]

My kids' school in inner NE Portland, half a mile away from a couple of Whole Foods and New Seasons has about 7% unvaccinated rate. Our school has a good amount of smart and ethical parents who realize vaccinating their children is important for everyone's children.

[sorupaa]

That's one good thing about living here is parent ws want there kids to get sick so when theey grow up they don't get sick easy.

the Japanese should take note

[ormari]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Yup, especially when it comes to food, there is no question the people here are morons.

We live in 2015, the idea of things being genetically modified should be amazing and cool and futuristic not evil and suspicious and bad. Where are these people living?! The past? I mean come on! Science is amazing and if science can help make better foods, by all means, it should be used to do so.

I try to do what I can to counter these people by buying intentionally GMO food, avoiding organic anything, avoiding restaurants that use that in their marketing, avoiding anything gluten free and trying to find the gluten-loaded variety, basically anything I can do to counter these hipster clowns.

I think you are wildly oversimplifying the GMO issue. Safety concerns aside, there are solid political reasons to be against GMO food. Monsanto, et al., hold patents on GMOs. They use the technology to make the seeds from the GMO plants sterile, so farmers have to continue to buy seed from the company. Even if they don't have the "terminator gene," the farmers are at risk of being sued for saving seed from this year's crop for the next, something that farmers have done since the beginning of agriculture. And those farmers who try to avoid planting GMO seed risk not just the likelihood that contamination from cross pollination with GMO seeds grown on neighboring farms will render their future crops GMO, they risk losing the right to plant their saved seed as a result.

The business practices of Monsanto alone are enough to boycott GMO products. They apparently run an immoral enterprise. I think the science is interesting, even if there is still a lot we don't know. But I oppose GMOs because of the immoral business practices. It is the corporations that purvey these products that seem to be evil.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

If you read up on it, the problem tends to be far-left and far-right - back around where the political curve bends back in on itself and conspiracy theories are popular. It tends to take slightly different forms and different talking points - "freedom" vs "Big Pharma" - but the end result is the same.

There are not very many elected Democrats who hold anti-vax views, though, compared to, say, Chris Christie and Rand Paul (although, to be fair, it is mostly just Republicans with long-shot presidential aspirations who have waded into this).

Yep. This is sort of like the looney-tunes opposition to GMOs.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

If you read up on it, the problem tends to be far-left and far-right - back around where the political curve bends back in on itself and conspiracy theories are popular. It tends to take slightly different forms and different talking points - "freedom" vs "Big Pharma" - but the end result is the same.

There are not very many elected Democrats who hold anti-vax views, though, compared to, say, Chris Christie and Rand Paul (although, to be fair, it is mostly just Republicans with long-shot presidential aspirations who have waded into this).

I notice you qualify the Democrats with the term "elected". You must be aware that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is extremely anti-vax. Obama himself has made some rather dumb statements about immunizations in the past, although during this epidemic has has supported immunization.
Robert Kennedy Jr. presses states to rethink child vaccination laws - Washington Times