Anyone who has pinned down their shrieking child for immunizations knows it isn’t pleasant.
But few of us can remember just how terrible the diseases are that the immunizations have almost
eradicated. Diseases that once spread sickness and death through communities – measles, smallpox, polio,
mumps, whooping cough, chicken pox – are just a distant memory for older generations.
That has changed in the last few years as pockets of measles and mumps have surfaced in the U.S. Last
year, outbreaks led to 377 measles cases in Ohio after Amish travelers to the Philippines contracted the
disease and returned home to Knox County. Ohio also reported 483 cases of mumps, with more than half of
them linked to Ohio State University.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that many vaccine-preventable diseases are
still in the United States or "only a plane ride away." That is suspected in the latest
measles outbreak in California where 87 people have reportedly been infected during visits to
Disneyland, where visitors come from around the world.
Before widespread measles vaccinations in the U.S., which began in the 1950s, each year an estimated 500
people died, 48,000 were hospitalized and nearly 1,000 suffered brain damage or deafness. Though it’s
nearly eradicated in the U.S., measles is still common in areas of Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
So how is it reappearing here in the U.S.?
After decades of parents looking at vaccines as saviors from childhood sicknesses, many now view them
with suspicion.
More and more parents are opting out of getting their children immunized – for a variety of reasons.
Though public schools require a whole list of vaccines, there are ways to get around those. And while
most states allow exemptions because of religious beliefs, some like Ohio allow parents to opt out
simple because they choose to.
It used to be low income children were at the biggest risk, since some families couldn’t afford the shots
and diseases would spread in poor neighborhoods. That changed when the government realized the wisdom in
offering immunizations for lower costs to those who couldn’t afford it otherwise.
Now it’s often the other end of the income spectrum that is shirking the shots.
The number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children has been creeping up, spurred for some by the
belief that shots given to infants lead to autism. All major studies have debunked that suspicion.
The CDC credits vaccines given to infants and young children over the last two decades with preventing
322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths over the course of their
lifetimes.
Those numbers may seem meaningless, unless it’s your child.
When asked by parents about the value of immunizations, Amy Jones, director of nursing at the Wood County
Health District, puts it in personal terms.
"I would want this for my child," Jones explains to parents. "To see a child with some of
these vaccine-preventable diseases is heartbreaking."
So why would parents refuse?
"It’s the greatest single public health accomplishment in the last 100 years," Dr. Michael
Lemon, a Bowling Green pediatrician, said of immunizations. But the risks seem so remote now that many
parents discount the value of the shots.
"We are a victim of our own success," Lemon said. "We don’t have historical knowledge of
the deaths. People don’t see the tragedies."
Parents in some African nations will walk all day to get their children immunized, Lemon said. But in the
U.S., parents of just under 5 percent of children refuse the readily available shots.
That has put a hole in the nation’s "herd immunity." It’s not only the children whose parents
choose not to vaccinate who are at risk. Also defenseless are infants and toddlers too young to have
their vaccinations, children with immunodeficiencies, pregnant women and people who can’t be vaccinated
for medical reasons and rely on " herd immunity" from others’ vaccinations to keep them
protected.
"We have enough breaks in the national chain," Lemon said.
But fears behind vaccinations are being fueled by some celebrities and other non-medical professionals.
They blame vaccines for everything from mercury poisoning to attention deficit disorder.
"They keep changing the boogeyman," Lemon said.
But the tragic results from no immunizations are well documented in history. So roll up your kids’
sleeves, steel your nerves against their screams, and keep them – and others – safe from some diseases.