Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, speaks with David Burnett, CEO of Chehalis Tribal Enterprises, on the site where the tribe will construct its Eagle One distillery.
Washington State — and the 3rd congressional district in particular — has become the center of a fraught national debate over vaccinations following a measles outbreak in Clark County that has spread to 64 cases at last count and cost state and local health agencies more than $1 million.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, has watched the events in her home county with concern, both for the public health crisis and the vitriol that has dominated the debate over vaccinations.
“We’ve never seen an outbreak like this,” Herrera Beutler said Thursday, during a wide-ranging interview with The Chronicle editorial board. “It has concerned all of us, for very good reason.”
Some have noted that the high percentage of unvaccinated children in the county and region — many due to concerned parents obtaining exemptions — has contributed to the outbreak, prompting calls to remove those exemptions to mandatory vaccinations.
In the Washington state Legislature, both the House and Senate are considering bills that would remove the state’s philosophical exemption for some vaccines, allowing parents to opt out only for medical or religious reasons. Herrera Beutler doesn’t believe that’s the answer.
“I don’t know that our immediate reaction should always be to take away more rights,” she said. “Maybe our immediate reaction should be, well let’s get all the stuff out on the table. What is your concern, tell me the experiences that you’ve had, tell me why you think this way. Let’s bring more evidence, more information out. I trust that parents are going to go where they need to go when it comes to the best interest of their kid.”
In addition to disagreeing with government mandates in general, Herrera Beutler also takes issue with those who shame parents who choose not to vaccinate, saying that only contributes to the problem. Instead of berating those who fear vaccines, she called for leaders and public health professionals to educate with compassion.
“When a parent sticks their head up and says, ‘I have a question about this’ or ‘I don’t like this’ or ‘I am concerned that this is a problem,’ we all just rush to judgment and say, ‘you’re an idiot,’” she said. “You can’t speak up on the parental non-vax side without getting your head handed to you. If your goal is to have more people take vaccines, then you have to extend some respect and some personhood and address the concerns.”
Herrera Beutler also expressed concerned with anti-vax advocates berating parents who choose to vaccinate with the false claim that vaccines can cause autism.
She drew from her own experience as a mother who has had to make tough decisions about her children’s health. Her oldest daughter Abigail was born without kidneys, and her condition required her to get vaccinated earlier than the standard recommended time, prior to receiving a kidney transplant from her father, Dan Beutler.
“I had to make the decision to vaccinate her pretty early on a lot of these things before the transplant, and we did that,” Herrera Beutler said. “But that was my decision weighing pros and cons, weighing a lot of information. And we’re so afraid of allowing a parent to do that.”
Abigail is on immunosuppressant medication, and Herrera Beutler noted she should “in theory” be an advocate for mandatory vaccinations, since herd immunity would protect her child. But even her love for her daughter won’t compel her to force another parent to violate their conscience, she said.
Herrera Beutler is currently pregnant with her third child, due in May.
She said it’s fair to raise concerns about vaccines, noting that hundreds of millions of dollars in payments have been awarded to claimants declaring harm under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.
“A lot of the people who are choosing not to vaccinate are doing so not because they want to expose their kid (to diseases), but because they genuinely have concerns founded in experience or things they’ve seen or read,” Herrera Beutler said. Rather than saying, ‘you’re just dumb, you don’t know,’ I think we should start the conversation.”
In addition to treating people with respect, having those conversations would actually do more to increase vaccinations than any mandate, she asserted.
“If the government comes in and just takes away rights, parents are gonna to push further out and say, ‘I’m not doing it. I’m gonna go underground,’” she said. “I am all for promoting vaccinations, talking about the benefits, educating people, giving them the science. But do not come in and treat these people like they’re idiots. They’re parents doing what they think is best. Those parents have a right to make that decision.”
