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In the midst of a measles outbreak in his home country, state representative, Paul Harris, said he was forced to act to limit MMR vaccine exemptions. . It is curious, he thinks, that more members of his political group do not support his proposal, since, according to his estimate, all are probably vaccinated themselves.
OLYMPIA – When Paul Harris, age 65, was diagnosed with testicular cancer 25 years ago, his doctor traced the path to follow. He may have surgery, eliminate cancer and have a 70% chance of living, or have chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which would increase his chances by 95%.
Harris, a representative of the Republican state of Vancouver at the head of the prosecution for limiting derogations to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, recently told his story, trying to convince his Washington conservative and skeptical colleagues that medicine is important – and that vaccination is essential safe and effective.
"But like a vaccine, it's never been 100%," he said of his treatment. "I can not guarantee that if you try your luck, that everything will be fine, as with any medical procedure, there are very few 100% medical procedures."
An unprecedented measles outbreak has occurred in Vancouver and Clark County: 70 of the 71 confirmed cases in that state, more than 800 exposed children out of school and a high rate of parents whose decision not to vaccinate their children helped spread a disease considered eliminated in the United States in 2000.
Although he often agrees with his fellow Republicans, Harris is perceived as a pragmatic problem solver ready to oppose his party. This session, while seeking to increase immunity against viral diseases in his community, he hopes to prevent teenagers from smoking by raising the minimum age for tobacco from 18 to 21 years.
Harris says he's felt compelled to act as the measles virus spreads quickly through unvaccinated children in Clark County, which has one of the highest rates of infection. The highest non-medical exemption for the highly effective vaccine according to some critics with adverse effects.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the non-medical exemption rate in kindergarten children during the 2017-2018 school year was about 2% nationally. . The state of Washington had a rate of exemption for philosophical, personal or religious reasons of 4%. In Clark County, according to data from the state's Department of Health, it was 6.7%.
While all states allow medical exemptions and only three have banned religious exceptions, Washington is one of 17 states to allow a philosophical vaccine exemption, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More and more states are moving away from these exceptions. California in 2015, for example, eliminated personal and religious exemptions after a multi-epidemic measles epidemic that was more than double that of the current one in Washington.
This is not the first time Harris has proposed such a move. He co-sponsored legislation in 2015 that would have eliminated any philosophical or personal objection to any vaccine requirements, but the bill, which had the support of at least one Republican of the time . Chad Magendanz, of Issaquah, never had a vote on the floor.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon has held a similar debate around vaccination, with four confirmed measles cases linked to the Washington epidemic and two other unrelated cases, with some lawmakers seeking to prohibit religious, philosophical and personal motives. This measure, stricter than that contemplated in Washington, means that unvaccinated students would be allowed to attend school only through a medical exception.
The big picture
As time passed and the state supreme court was putting $ 100,000 of fines on the pile every day, Harris and seven other lawmakers met for several months in 2017 to try to find a solution to the underfunding by the state of education from kindergarten to 12th, as decided the Washington Supreme Court. court in its historic decision McCleary five years earlier.
The group, split equally between Democrats and Republicans, as well as between the Senate and the House, has been striving to get a proposal so that the Legislature can adopt its operating budget and avoid a partial closure of the government. They succeeded, and some say it would not have been possible without Harris.
"Honestly, I do not think we could have got to where we were if Paul had not been in the room," said former representative, David Taylor, R-Moxee, a member of the board. McCleary Task Force. Harris, he said, was able to narrow the gap in some areas because he listened to both sides and "continued to push for commonsense solutions that did not necessarily mean we were going to just spend money. "
Taylor, who called Harris "one of the most honorable personalities with whom he worked, noted that when, in the summer of 2016, House Republicans came together to develop a game plan, Harris played the role of stabilizer for the group, keeping an eye on the situation as a whole while others might get bogged down in careful reforms.
Lawmakers on the other side of the aisle describe Harris in the same way. Open to practical solutions and a "right shooter," said Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, who was part of the McCleary team and who presented himself at the conference. Legislative Assembly in the same class of freshmen in 2011 as Harris.
"Paul presented a conservative frame of reference on the subject, but a very open mind and a really playful disposition that allowed the conversation to circulate freely so that we could all exchange ideas and go forward. Said Senator Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, Room Budget Editor and McCleary's colleague.
Mr. Harris's reputation as a wise legislator and willing to work with anyone has earned him a leadership position in this session by replacing the controversial Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, as Chair of the Minority Caucus. .
Tuesday, the House voted by 57 votes to 40 to approve the bill led by Harris, but that almost all supporters of his party did not like, to eliminate the personal or philosophical exemption of MMR vaccine . The proposal is now referred to the Senate where a larger bill from another Clark County legislature would remove the same exception for all the vaccinations required to enter the school or licensed child care.
Harris thinks it is curious that more and more members of his caucus do not support this measure, since he believes all his Republican colleagues are probably vaccinated themselves. He noted that before putting his glasses in his Capitol office, he had to read an excerpt from the US Supreme Court's 1905 ruling that the community's right to health prevailed. on that of an individual in the case of a smallpox vaccine mandate.
And its bill to raise the minimum age of sale of tobacco products and glass fumes from 18 to 21 years was passed in the House in February with mostly Democratic support, while the most Republicans voted against.
Taylor, who had a reputation for being an uncompromising Conservative during his stay at Olympia, said he supported none of these measures, calling the anti-smoking proposal "completely ridiculous" because State had to have a uniform age for those considered as adults and it was a matter of personal freedom. Even the House Minority Leader, J.T. At a recent press conference, Wilcox said he did not support Mr. Harris' ban on vaccine exemption, calling it an intrusive practice.
Harris is becoming more and more lonely in the legislature as both sides move more to the left and right with moderates like Sen. Joe Fain of Auburn, who faces a rape charge, and the senator Mark Miloscia, of the R-Federal Way, losing their seat to liberal Democrats and several similar House Republicans also yielded power.
In recent years, two legislative constituencies of the Eastside have moved further to the left, with Sens. Manka Dhingra, of Redmond, and Patty Kuderer, of Bellevue, who contributed this year to the charge of the creation of a tax on capital gains.
Despite his position on vaccination and the age of smoking, Harris ranks on the party list on many hot issues, including environmental policy, gun control and the right to vote.
He voted this month against a Democratic proposal to phase out highly polluting hydrofluorocarbons in equipment such as industrial refrigeration units, and opposed a ban being demanded by the Attorney General's office on Ghost weapons "impossible to identify from a serial number. or, since they lack metal, they may not be detected by metal detectors, even though the Supreme Republican of the Committee on Civil Rights and Justice has voted in his favor.
However, on the link between education and public health, Harris, a former Evergreen School Board member, sees no reason to separate on either side.
"I really believe that these two bills should not be party plans, "Harris said, noting that he had not tried to influence his conservative colleagues in favor of the bill. taking action against tobacco and the vaccine. "Community health is a democratic problem and not a republican one? I do not think so. "
Understand the opposition
Harris ended up doing everything years ago. He underwent surgery, as well as radiation and chemotherapy. But he had a bad reaction to radiation. He lost more than 30 pounds and had to undergo the treatments twice as long as they had to be cut in half.
It was not the only harsh reaction Harris had with medicine. After recently receiving a shingles vaccine, he had a fever, a headache and pain in his arm.
But would he start all over again?
"I do not want shingles, man. I saw people who had shingles, "he said. "Did I have a reaction to my shingles? I did it. Did I like that? I did not do it. But do I want the shingles? Oh no."
Although parents were opposed to a fierce emotion at each stage of the courtroom, Mr. Harris said that in his community he received extremely positive feedback from voters concerned about the relatively large size of the courtroom. the non-immune population.
Hostility came from across the country as the debate became national in recent weeks.
The legislator understands their concerns and said that if he had a severe reaction to a vaccine, he would probably also want an exemption, but a medical claim.
Former representative Kristine Lytton, D-Anacortes, remembers learning a lot from different voices such as Harris in the K-12 funding group and what can emerge when partisanship disappears.
"As we see happening on the national scene and across our country, it's because our political ideology takes away so much, I guess, that it's easy to forget why we're out there," Lytton said. . "We are not here to score points for our party. We are here to solve the problems of the citizens of the state. "
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