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Despite a court ruling last week that dismissed the bogus link between vaccination and autism, I continue to receive comments from so-called “non-vaccinators” about a post that I published last week about New Jersey’s dismal vaccinations rates. Most of the comments are anecdotal and suggest that childhood vaccination was the likely culprit for their children’s autism, brain damage or other ailments. While I feel their pain, the notion that children should not continue to be vaccinated is misguided and has serious negative public health implications.

There is ample public health and scientific information that suggests that childhood vaccination has worked well to reduce the incidence of morbidity and mortality in Western nations. Ironically, if it wasn’t for mandatory childhood vaccinations, the death and lasting physical or neurological damage caused by many preventable diseases like smallpox, measles, mumps, diphtheria and whooping cough would be much higher. Unfortunately, we Americans have been lead to believe —intentionally or not—that there should be no side effects associated with drugs, vaccines and other medicines. The bottom line is that all drugs, vaccines and medicines have side effects; some more serious or noticeable than others! Further, the decision to develop new drugs and vaccines is always based on a risk to benefit ratio. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will only develop products to address unmet medical needs when the benefits of these products clearly outweigh the potential risks. However, in some cases, most notably cancer drugs, the risk to benefit ratio becomes less obvious. There is no question that most cancer drugs have serious and potential life threatening side effects. Nevertheless, the benefit—survival and not death—far outweighs potential downstream risks!

Like it or not, the medical benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks associated with them. As many of you may know, there is currently a whooping cough epidemic in California. California health officials assert that the epidemic likely started among unvaccinated individuals and then spread to the larger population. The observation that many of the patients with whooping cough were previously vaccinated against the disease in childhood suggests that either their immunity to whooping has declined over the years or that the causative bacterium, Bordetella pertussis has become more virulent. 

The former hypothesis is more likely than the later mainly because Bordetella infections were almost non-existent until increased immigration and the non-vaccination movement began in earnest about 15 years ago! Students of infectious diseases will tell you that virulence of infectious agents tends to increase as they are passed from one infected individual to the next. Consequently, the lack of any significant B pertussis outbreaks (until very recently) suggests that changes in the underlying virulence mechanism of the bacterium are not responsible for the current outbreaks.

Again, as a parent, I understand the pain and suffering of those whose children may have experienced debilitating effects coincident with childhood vaccination regimens. However, as more parents continue to eschew vaccination against childhood disease, the incidence of death and children with serious life long debilitating effects associated with many common childhood diseases is certain to rise. With this in mind, I will continue to write and post articles that support childhood vaccinations. I will gladly stop posting these articles when someone can provide me with scientifically accurate and valid data that suggest that vaccination does more harm than good!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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There was an alarming article in today’s New Times which reported that greater numbers of parents are rejecting vaccination for their children. You may ask, “How is this possible. Aren’t childhood vaccinations mandatory?  Well, yes and no. As it turns out, 20 states including California, Texas and Ohio allow some kind of personal belief exemption from otherwise mandatory childhood vaccinations. And, more and more parents are opting out every year. In 1991, less than 1% of children in states with personal belief exemptions went without vaccinations. By 2004, the most recent year for which data are available, the percentages swelled to over 2.5 %. Frighteningly, according to a 2006 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, exemption rates of 15% to 18% has been found in certain areas of Oregon, Washington and California.

So, what is responsible for this startling increase? Unfortunately, misinformation on the Internet promulgated by American news media outlets has caused some parents to question the safety of many childhood vaccines including those for measles, mumps, rubella, and diphtheria and whooping cough. Although parents who opt to not vaccinate their children believe that they are protecting them from serious vaccine-induced side effects, they are, in reality, increasing the risk that their children and others may contract these diseases. Surprisingly, many parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are aware hat they may be placing other children at risk. For instance, in the NY Times article, one mother chose not to vaccinate her child said, “I cannot deny that my child can put someone else at risk” 

The growing US anti-vaccination movement has caused serious alarm among many infectious disease specialists and public health officials– and with good reason. This year, there was an unusual outbreak of measles in California in which 12 unvaccinated children contracted the disease. In 2005, there was a mumps outbreak in Iowa that infected 239 people (many of whom were vaccinated) and in 2006 there was a measles outbreak in Indiana that affected 28 unvaccinated children. Ironically, the success of the US childhood vaccination program may be its “Achilles heel.” according to some epidemiologists. This is because most American parents, unlike their counterparts in developing countries where childhood disease like measles are rampant, have never seen measles and don’t understand the seriousness of the disease. According to one public health official “They do not perceive the risk of the disease but perceive risk of the vaccine”. Also, unvaccinated children can serve as disease reservoirs or carriers and unwittingly infect older people (whose immunity has waned over time), immunocompromised individuals (cancer, autoimmune and HIV/AIDS patients)
 and even vaccinated children who failed to develop sufficient immunity.

So what does the anti-vaccine movement have to do with American science education?  Simply put, most Americans don’t understand the basic principles or fundamental concepts of biology and medicine. This should come as no surprise. According to recent surveys, 40% of Americans don’t graduate from high school. .Further, many college-educated non-science professionals have trouble discerning fact from fiction when it comes to science. Their lack of concern or disdain for science is frequently expressed in financial terms. Why should I become a scientist (with an advanced degree) and make $65,000 to $75,000 when I can make $75,000 to $100,000 a year with an undergraduate degree in business or finance? I don’t know–call me crazy– but sometimes there are more important things in life to consider than money–like vaccinating our children so that they are protected against potentially life-threatening diseases!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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