NEWS
March 2019
3
Measles outbreak threatens world health Sarah Chueng
Seventeen studies conducted in seven countries and three continents involved hundreds of thousands of children. None of which have suggested a link between vaccines and autism. Yet the anti-vaccination movement persists. While the majority of the Bay Area supports vaccinating their children, pockets of the U.S. are facing a resurgence of the measles virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 228 cases of measles since the start of 2019, in states like Washington, Texas, and Oregon. This is likely due to resistance of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, or vaccine hesitancy, which the World Health Organization even identified as one of the top 10 global health threats of 2019. People are afraid that vaccines increase the risk of autism, despite multiple scientific studies disproving any association. The myth started in 1998, when Andrew Wakefield fabricated the results of a study on 12 children to sue MMR vaccine manufacturers. However, investigations invalidated the study and multiple studies since then have failed to replicate Wakefield’s data. However, the internet may be
keeping fears from dissipating. Biology teacher Sara Shayesteh believes many anti-vax proponents are victims of misinformation. “There’s a lot of access to so many websites now. It’s so easy to get onto any webpage and people don’t often do their research and due diligence to figure out if a site is legitimate or based off of real science,” Shayesteh said. Other factors fueling the antivax movement include religious and philosophical beliefs. According to a 2017 study published in PLOS Medicine, 15 “hotspot” cities of unvaccinated kids granted families nonmedical exemptions from vaccines. Brett Guthrie of the U.S. Committee on Energy and Commerce said this means “that most people can opt out for any reason.” Of course, there are legitimate exemptions. Vaccines can harm immunocompromised people and those undergoing cancer treatment. Additionally, vaccines are potentially dangerous for some who do not even appear to have any pre-existing medical conditions. “The Institute of Medicine has acknowledged […] that doctors cannot accurately predict who is more susceptible to vaccine harm due to genetic, biological, and environmental high risk factors,”
according to the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). “Despite vaccine science knowledge gaps, medical contraindications have been narrowed by the CDC and medical trade associations so that no family medical history and almost no personal medical history or health condition qualifies for a medical vaccine exemption.” Despite the difficulty of determining how a recipient’s body will react, the CDC still urges those without obvious threats to get vaccinated. Herd immunity is intended to protect people who are medically unable to receive shots against disease. When a sufficient portion of the nation’s population has built immunity to a disease, there’s a much lower chance it will spread amongst the community. However, the CDC claims herd immunity is only effective when 95 percent of the population is vaccinated. As stated by Diana DeGette, the chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, only 91 percent of Americans are currently vaccinated, and this is a problem. “Outbreaks, like the one we are seeing with measles, remind us of just how interconnected our communities are,” DeGette said. “They remind us of how the decisions of one community can directly affect other communities
across the country.” But some states are still pushing back. The American Academy of Pediatrics found that at least 20 states have proposed bills this year that would expand the list of reasons to exempt from vaccinating, including nonmedical ones, and require doctors to provide more information on the risks of vaccines. The NVIC showed support of these bills in Iowa and Hawaii, and is urging Arizona to support them as well. Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer even co-sponsored three such bills after he learned that some children were being harmed by vaccines, telling CNN that he felt the state was “not engaging in fully informed consent.” This idea is part of a wider debate. It concerns at what point the government should intervene in citizens’ health decisions, especially to the point of declaring those decisions a public health emergency. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb believes the measles outbreaks may motivate federal health agencies to intervene in state laws regarding vaccinations. Gottlieb told CNN, “Some states are engaging in such wide exemptions that they’re creating the opportunity for outbreaks on a scale that is going to have national im-
plications.” Until vaccination proponents and adversaries can come to an agreement based on both facts and potential individual circumstances, the U.S. population could continue to experience recurring diseases such as measles. Through objective scientific research, perhaps both sides will be able to acknowledge some validity in each other’s rationalizations. DeGette said, “If there was any one topic that would transcend politics or party lines, this should be it.”
Sean Vanderaa
Everything a student needs to know about taxes Nina Heller The last day to file your taxes for 2018 is April 15. Here is everything you need to know. Three important questions should be asked when trying to figure out if you need to pay taxes or not: • Are you considered a dependent by the IRS? • How much income do you have? • What type of income do you have? Almost all high school students are dependents. For the purposes of this article, we will be talking about high school students who are dependents. The IRS considers someone to be a dependent if: • They are under 19, or under the age 24 and a full-time student, or permanently disabled at any age; • They live with the person who is financially supporting them for more than 50 percent of the year; and • They don’t provide more than half of their own financial support. There are two types of income: earned and unearned. Earned income is money derived from paid work. Unearned income is money derived from investments.
Do teens need to pay taxes?
If you make less than $12,000 at your job, you do not have to file taxes. If you make more than $12,000, you must file. However, according to Turbotax, if you earned less than $12,000 in 2018 then you may still wish to file your taxes in order to receive the refund of any withheld income taxes. For single taxpayers, the 2018 tax year deduction is $12,000, according to the IRS. In 2017, the amount was $6,350.
What about the taxes my job takes out?
When you first start your job, you fill out a W-4. On the W-4, you put how much you expect to be making for the year, which will tell your employer how much of your paycheck to withhold for the correct amount of federal income tax. At the end of the year, your employer will send you a W-2 form, which tells you how much you made. You will then either receive a refund, which means that too much was deducted from your paycheck, or you will have to pay the correct amount owed.
How do I pay my taxes? Taxes can be paid online using the IRS website (IRS.gov).
What happens if I don’t pay taxes or I pay them incorrectly? There are different penalties for filing your taxes and for not paying them, as well as for paying them incorrectly. According to CNBC, the failure to file penalty is is five percent of your unpaid taxes for each month your tax return is late, up to 25 percent. On top of that fee, for filing more than 60 days late, you’ll pay a minimum of $135 or 100 percent of the taxes you owe (whichever is less). If you file your taxes but don’t pay them, the IRS will charge you a failure-to-pay penalty. The penalty is 0.5 percent of your unpaid taxes for each month you don’t pay, up to 25 percent, as well as the interest on the unpaid amount. Failing to file your taxes at all will result in the IRS filing a W-2 for you, and the possibility of missing out on a return.
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Why do I have to pay taxes?
We pay taxes because of federal, state, and local laws enacted. Not only do tax dollars pay the salaries of government workers, they also pay for resources like police and firefighters. The money that gets paid from taxes goes to maintain the roads you drive on, for social security, and to fund schools, to name a few. While you did work for your money, you also need to give some of it back to the government in order to pay for the services you enjoy.
Why does everyone have to pay a different amount? The history of income taxes dates back to the civil war, when Abraham Lincoln signed the nation’s first ever tax on income to aid the war effort. A decade later, that was repealed and in 1894, Congress tried to pass a flat rate federal income tax, which was struck down by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled this unconstitutional because it considered this tax to be a direct tax, and direct taxes are not allocated among the states.