Since she began communal living on Vashon Island more than 20 years ago, the registered nurse has been advocating for getting kids their shots against a loud contingent of anti-vaccine parents in the close-knit community of about 11,000 that’s accessible only by ferry, a serene 20-minute ride from Seattle.
And it may now be working, thanks to a "perfect storm" of changes being felt on the island, Day said.
The Vashon Island School District has seen a significant increase in fully immunized children. The number of kindergartners who received the required set of state-mandated vaccines jumped by 31% in the past six years, from 56% to nearly 74% in the 2017-18 school year, according to the King County Public Health Department.
Amid the nation’s largest measles outbreak in 25 years, pro-vaccine advocates are cheering this apparent shift that challenges Vashon’s reputation as a hotbed of highly educated, anti-establishment parents who choose not to vaccinate their children from preventable and potentially devastating diseases.
"We’ve been the poster children for the anti-vaccine or vaccine-hesitancy movement for so long," Day said.