US doctors pay to hear Ore. town's vaccine views

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US doctors pay to hear Ore. town's vaccine views

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Jan 9, 6:24 PM (ET)

By JEFF BARNARD

ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) - There are so many parents in this free-spirited,

unconventional small town who won't get their kids vaccinated that

federal researchers are paying money just to hear their side of

things. On Saturday, 80 locals will get $50 apiece to talk about their

worries over the risks of childhood shots.

" One of the basic tenets of my decision-making is mistrust of the

government, a mistrust of the pharmaceutical companies, and mistrust

of the big blanket thing that says this is what everybody has to do, "

says Harding, an organic farming consultant and mother of two.

" I get the public health standpoint, " she said. " I am still

questioning (vaccines') safety. "

Nationally, there is a budding movement of parents who are getting

exemptions from laws requiring children to get vaccinated before

attending school. The exemptions are one explanation the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention gives for a spike in measles cases. The

government recommends as many as 10 vaccines before a child is 6, plus

boosters along the way.

Dr. Ben Schwartz, an adviser to the National Vaccine Program, said the

meeting in Ashland is one of three where the government is paying

average citizens to give their views to inform officials charting the

direction of vaccine research for the next five years. A similar

meeting was held in Birmingham, Ala., and another is set for

Indianapolis, both sites with more mainstream views about vaccines.

But Ashland stands apart from the mainstream.

The town of 20,000 on the flanks of the Siskiyou Mountains in

southwestern Oregon has always been different. In the early 20th

century it was on the Chautauqua lecture circuit, and the sulfurous

waters of Lithia Springs drew visitors looking for a cure for what

ailed them.

Today, it has one of the highest rates in the nation for vaccine

exemptions - 28 percent and rising in kindergartens, compared with

about 4 percent statewide. One alternative school has 67 percent.

A liberal outpost in a conservative region, Ashland likes to go its

own way. The city has its own water and electric utilities, and was a

pioneer promoting solar energy, high-speed Internet, and dog parks. It

has serious debates about whether to cut down trees to expand the

library or whether to allow a woman to ride her bicycle naked in the

Fourth of July parade.

For years, Dr. Jim Shames, a physician who prefers a down vest to a

lab coat, has argued the benefits of vaccines with Harding, his

next-door neighbor.

As County's chief medical officer, Shames would like every

child immunized. Ashland always has some whooping cough around, which

can be devastating to babies, but has seen no spike in measles. Still,

Shames fears the community is vulnerable because so many international

visitors come to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Southern Oregon

University.

Shames has been working with nursing students from Oregon Health &

Science University on a pamphlet that would promote immunization.

While doing interviews for that pamphlet, nursing student Shauna

Gargus, who had her own two kids vaccinated, found many parents

distrust mainstream medicine. They tend to believe their friends

rather than medical research. Their biggest single fear is that the

shot for measles, mumps and rubella could cause their children to

become autistic, despite solid scientific studies that show no

evidence of that.

" The fear is real for parents, and it overshadows the research, " she

said. " This is my hometown. This is where I grew up. I care about the

community here. I just really would like to not make this a

browbeating issue. "

Harding is suspicious of the need to inject so many vaccines into

small children. She stopped vaccinating her son, , after his

first shot as a baby triggered hours of crying. Her daughter, Stella,

got a tetanus shot, but that is all.

Until now, Tyre Dawn has depended on organic food and plenty of

playtime outdoors to keep her 4-year-old son, Lukyan, healthy. But she

is planning to open a preschool in the spring, and with so many

children around, she is now rethinking her policy.

" It is essential in these times for everyone to look more closely at

the choices they are making, " she said.

Margulis moved here with her husband and three kids from

Massachusetts, where her mother is a cellular biologist and member of

the National Academy of Sciences. Though she chuckles at some of

Ashland's personality quirks, she embraces the city's strong sense of

community and many people's distrust of mainstream medicine.

" I never questioned the efficacy or intelligence of doing vaccines

until I was in the hospital with my newborn daughter and a doctor

tried to get me to give her hepatitis B vaccine, " she said. " Hepatitis

B is a sexually transmitted disease. I knew I didn't have hepatitis B.

I knew my husband didn't have it. I knew there was no way she would

come in contact with anyone with hepatitis B.

" You have this tiny, frog-like baby and they want to shoot her up with

things. "

Afterward, Margulis' pediatrician supported her choice. " I decided it

was my responsibility as a parent to research each and every vaccine

to make an informed, intelligent decision, not to just follow what

doctors told me, " she said.