It's been four-and-a-half years since Carl Krawitt's 6-year-old son, Rhett, was diagnosed with leukemia. Rhett is now in remission, but his health is still extremely precarious.
That's partly because Rhett, who lives with his family in Marin County, California, cannot be vaccinated while his immune system rebuilds, KQED's State of Health blog first reported, which makes him more susceptible to infection.
Marin County also happens to have an "unusually high" rate of unvaccinated children, with 6.45% of the children falling under the category of "personal belief exemptions" and parents balking at vaccinations for diseases like polio and measles.
Rhett's school, Reed Elementary in Tiburon, has a 7% personal belief exemption rate — 4.5% higher than the state average.
"It's very emotional for me," Krawitt told KQED. "If you choose not to immunize your own child and your own child dies because they get measles, OK, that's your responsibility, that's your choice. But if your child gets sick and gets my child sick and my child dies, then ... your action has harmed my child."
Krawitt did not respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.
And Krawitt wants change. He and his wife, Jodi, reached out to the district's superintendent requesting they require immunization unless a student is medically exempt.
In his reply, Supt. Steve Herzog didn't address the issue directly, but said that they were "monitoring the situation closely and will take whatever actions necessary to ensure the safety of our student." He did not respond to a BuzzFeed News request for comment.
Krawitt's fight comes during an already heated time for parents on both sides of the vaccination debate, which was heightened due to the high rate of measles, and the Disneyland outbreak. Some unvaccinated students have also been banned from school.
But Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County's health officer, told the New York Times that although he is sympathetic to Krawitt's situation, the measure was inappropriate as the county has not had a case for years.
Krawitt, however, told the Times that enough is still not being done to prevent infection.
"It's not just schools where diseases can spread," he said. "It's the library, the playground, the airport, the whole community."
The dad of two told KQED he's been campaigning for required vaccinations for months, recalling a parent meeting before school started where a staff member told parents not to bring peanuts to school because of children's allergies.
"It's really important your kids don't bring peanuts, because kids can die," Krawitt recalled the staffer saying.
Reporter Lisa Aliferis wrote:
The irony was not lost on him. He told me he immediately responded, "In the interest of the health and safety of our children, can we have the assurance that all the kids at our school are immunized?"
He found out later from a friend that other parents who were present were "mad that you asked the question, because they don't immunize their kids."
Despite the growing numbers of unvaccinated children, largely over fears of a link with autism, Dr. Willis told the Times that the county's rates of vaccination rose 20% over the last two years.
A "personal belief exemption" also now requires a signature from a doctor, whereas before, people just had to sign a slip of paper.
Since Krawitt's story started getting national attention, a MoveOn.org petition has amassed over 5,600 signatures encouraging California to require vaccinations and end personal belief exemptions.
Meanwhile, the number of measles cases continues to rise: There were 644 cases of measles in 27 states last year, by far the largest number since 2000, according to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
