Foolish Vaccine Exemptions
New York Times Editorial
October 12, 2006
States that make it easy for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children are suffering increased disease rates as a consequence, according to an article published yesterday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings should be a warning to all parents and state officials who think they can let their guards down on immunizations that are needed to protect both the children and the communities in which they live.
We saw what happened in Indiana last year when measles broke out among children who had been schooled at home and thus avoided the compulsory shots required of those who attend public schools. At least 34 people became ill, of whom three were hospitalized, one with life-threatening complications. Their families had succumbed to fears that the vaccine was dangerous, forgetting that the disease itself was the real danger.
Now the new article by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Florida and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken a broad look at the rates of whooping cough in the 48 states that allow people to be exempted from required shots for various nonmedical reasons. All 48 of the states allow exemptions based on religious objections, but 19 of them also allow exemptions based on philosophical or other personal beliefs. Some states make it easy for parents to claim an exemption by simply signing a prewritten statement on the school immunization form. Others make it harder by requiring a signature from a local health official, a personally written letter, notarization or annual renewal.
Sadly, states that readily grant exemptions or allow personal belief exemptions have about 50 percent higher rates of whooping cough, or pertussis, compared with stricter states, after adjusting for demographics. This is disturbing given that pertussis, which can cause severe illness and death in young children, has been on the rise in recent decades.
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Comments: 17
A Saudi woman was talking about not vaccinating her daughter. I strongly encouraged her to do so. Then a Japanese woman, an MD, jumped all over me and started talking about how vaccinations cause autism. When Japanese stopped vaccinating, the skyrocketing autism rate dropped radically. She was convinced that nobody should vaccinate because it causes autism. A Russian MD agreed with her.
(But I had my doubts about the Russian--she was a gynecologist, and she insisted that the diaphragm was an impossible form of birth control! Anatomically impossible.)
Not long after, a family joined my church. Their son was autistic, and they believed vaccinations caused it. It was tragic to see how he was. It was hard for his 2 healthy sisters as well as his parents. They did not vaccinate the youngest child--he was the middle one.
You know that those of us of a certain age grew up before they had invented many of these vaccines. We got and survived the usual childhood diseases, including mumps, measles, chicken pox, German measles (multiple times!), whooping cough... And here we are, none the worse for wear. Autism, on the other hand, is a true and permanent disaster.
I agree with Visionaerie about the nightmare that school food is, and that the standard US diet is. I am convinced that if factory farming were to disappear overnight and organic farming take its place, and if people chose to do real cooking rather than mere package-opening, we would all be a lot healthier. I am aware of the important changes that occurred in WI and know that the dreck that passes for lunch in Philadelphia schools causes a lot of the afternoon problems in schools.
I'm not sure vitamins and diet would prevent diseases, however. Our ancestors got those diseases before the days of plastic "food". But I am convinced that vitamins and diet would improve a lot of other areas of our health!
Given the amount of research the Japanese have done, and the huge improvement in the autism rates since they stopped vaccinating, what would you say to the Japanese doctors who were my language students about their concerns about vaccinations?