People of Richmond: Will you get the new COVID booster?

People of Richmond

“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Have you or will you get the new booster shot against the omicron variant? “I am. My father is immunocompromised. It’s really important in order to keep…

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Will the Pacific Northwest measles outbreak jump over to the East Bay?

In 2015, a measles outbreak spread across California, sickening hundreds of people. The outbreak spread across the West Coast as well as Mexico and Canada, and led the California legislature to outlaw vaccine exemptions based on personal beliefs. Removing the exemption has caused vaccination rates across the state to increase dramatically, including in the Bay…

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Immunization law targets school vaccination exemptions

A child gets vaccinated at LifeLong William Jenkins Health Center in Richmond. Photo by Julia Vassey.

California’s new immunization law, which went into effect in July, requires students to be fully vaccinated for school unless they have a medical reason and a doctor’s signature to prove it. But the legislation does not address the most common reason some students in Richmond schools lack required vaccines: so-called conditional admission.

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After measles outbreak, interest in vaccines increases

Skin of a patient after 3 days of measles infection. Photo by CDC/ Heinz F. Eichenwald, MD.

It’s not over yet. The measles outbreak, which started in December, 2014, at a Disneyland theme park in Orange County, is still ongoing in the United States, and has now reached Mexico and Canada, where more than 100 people have been reported to have the disease. By March 6, 17 US states and the District…

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