PORTLAND, Maine — A newspaper is attempting to force the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to identify four schools where chickenpox outbreaks occurred this school year.
The Portland Press Herald reported that it filed a formal Freedom of Access Act request after the CDC declined to identify the schools last week.
Four outbreaks are the most recorded in Maine schools since the state began requiring the chickenpox vaccine for students in 2003. The agency maintains that naming the schools would risk personal privacy by potentially identifying sick children.
Sigmund Schutz, the newspaper's attorney, says it's against Maine law to keep the public in the dark about communicable diseases. He said the public has a right to protect themselves, to evaluate public health policy, and to hold government agencies accountable.