Are You Kidding Me?? New Jersey Childhood Vaccination Rates Are Among the Lowest in the US
There was an extremely troubling article in today’s New Jersey Trenton Times that indicated that a New Jersey’s childhood vaccination rates ranked 42nd in 2009—45th in 2008—in the nation. The ranking were based on annual vaccination statistic compiled by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA.
The lead-in paragraph to the article elegantly captured the irony of the dubious statistic:
“One of the most affluent (and most populous states) states in the country, home to more than a few giants in the pharmaceutical industry also has one of the lowest rates of immunizing babies and toddlers in the nation.”
New Jersey’s vaccination rates among infants and toddlers for childhood diseases— mumps, measles, diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B and rubella—was roughly 64 percent in 2009. This was significantly lower than the national average of 71 percent and the lowest in the Northeast. For example, in Pennsylvania and New York, two of the states bordering New Jersey, the vaccination rates in 2009 were 72 and 71 present respectively.
The reasons given for the low rate are plausible but, in most cases, incomprehensible from an infectious diseases and public health perspectives. It has been postulated that low-income and immigrant communities lack health insurance and access to medical information about mandatory childhood vaccination regimens. While it is facile to blame low income and immigrant populations for New Jersey's egregiously low vaccination rate, the problem may actually lie with more affluent and educated NJ citizens who have medical insurance (help to pay the salaries of medical billing workers) and understand the public health implications of mandatory childhood immunizations.
According to the article, parents and even some health care professionals are backing away from mandatory vaccination because they “don’t like seeing kids cry” after sometimes receiving up to four vaccinations during a single office visit! Say what????? I accompanied my three children for most of their childhood immunizations, and while some tears may have been shed, they recovered quickly and are now protected against a variety of potentially life-threatening diseases. Apparently, some parents and health care professionals are willing to jeopardize the public health of a nation because the “shots hurt.” To that I say; get over it—like it or not, life can be painful and no matter how hard you may try you cannot shield your kids from it!
The fallacious and recently publicly discredited link between childhood vaccination and autism, coupled with the growing public distrust of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the vaccines may be more plausible explanations for New Jersey’s declining immunization rates in NJ. This suggests that vaccine manufacturers and public health officials ought to work closely together to be educate the American public about the benefits and potential risks associated with childhood vaccination.
Finally, as some of you may know, many states like New Jersey have religious exemptions that allow children to skip mandatory childhood immunizations. Interestingly and troublingly these children are allowed to attend public schools despite the fact that they haven’t been vaccinated. Again, I say what??? Increasingly, these unvaccinated students have been implicated as the reservoirs for the pertussis outbreaks that are currently ravaging school aged children and older adults throughout the US. It is my belief that children who fail to receive the appropriate immunizations because of religious reason should not be allowed to attend public school. This is because, unlike many of the low income and immigrant families who may be unaware or cannot afford to immunize their children because they lack health insurance, many of the folks claiming religious exemptions have health insurance and are living above the poverty level. Consequently, if these parents choose to not immunize their children (and fail to meet mandated public health requirements for entry into public schools), then they ought to be financially responsible for their child’s education.
Paradoxically, the plummeting vaccination rates in New Jersey and elsewhere are being driven by a small but extremely vocal segment of the American public. Unfortunately, this anti-vaccine sentiment in America is unlikely to abate until an increasing number of children begin to die from easily preventable childhood diseases. As far as I am concerned, the benefits of childhood vaccines far outweigh their risks and help to maintain the public health of all Americans.
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!
As you may know, BioJobBlogger was recently sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and punitive damages by Donna Roberts and Dawn Abrams two so called dog breeder.
Because I subscribe to transparency, full disclosure and the notion that most stories have two sides, I felt that it was only appropriate to post a comment sent to me by a an ardent Donna Roberts supporter who believes that she and her ring of dog-grifting associates are innocent and have been unduly harmed and wronged by my blog posts.
Despite a down economy, it appears that business for the dog grifting team of Donna Roberts aka Marcie Duben (and many other false identities) and Dawn Abrams is booming. The reason that I know this is that over the past week or so I have received several message regarding from BioJobBlog readers about bogus dog transactions.
Despite court rulings, statewide investigations and public humiliation, Dawn Abrams and Donna Roberts continue to scam would be dog owners who want to buy puppies and give them good homes.
Roche
There was a very 
it would eliminate as many as 8,200 jobs, or 7% of its work force, to help the company cope with what it expects will be a slow economic recovery amid damped demand for drugs, medical devices and consumer products. J&J employs about 117, 000 workers globally. While the job cuts will be global, many losing their jobs will be outside of the US.
I was sitting around minding my own business (well sort of) and I received the following e-mail message. People must be reading BioJobBlog or something!
The fourth quarter is over, earnings are being announced and new budgets for the upcoming fiscal year are being evaluated and tweaked. This means that we have officially entered layoff and closure season. Isn’t it great that big companies wait until right before the holiday season to let employees know whether or not they will have a job next year?
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that Pennsylvania state legislators, spearheading efforts to retain jobs in the state after the $68 billion Pfizer-Wyeth merger closes next month, said they were fairly confident many positions would remain at Wyeth's regional operations in Collegeville, Great Valley and other sites. Wyeth employs about 4,500 people in the region - about 3,600 in Collegeville and 900 in Great Valley and elsewhere.
Emily Rachel Silverstein, a sophomore anthropology major and peace activist at Gettysburg College, was
Late last week, Roche raised the price of its hostile offer to buy out
Merck announced today that it was buying Schering Plough, the Kenilworth-New Jersey based drug maker, for $41.1 billion. The deal comes only six weeks after Pfizer said that it would purchase NJ-based Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Superficially, the deal may make sense for the two struggling drug makers—they co-market the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin and also have collaborations in the respiratory diseases area. Also, Schering Plough has the European rights to the anti-arthritis drug Remicade and its 2007 purchase of the Dutch biopharmaceutical company Organon Biosciences NV provides access to several potential biotechnology drugs. Nevertheless, the impending merger will ultimately result in job losses and higher unemployment in the state of New Jersey.
An intrepid reader of BioJobBlog alerted me to a new venture started by Donna Roberts and Dawn Abrams. They allegedly run an operation called
For the past year or so, I have been dealing with
For those of you who haven’t been able to keep up with the latest pharma layoffs, I came across an
ple have read the post and I am now starting to receive comments from people who have had similar experiences to mine after purchasing puppies from Ms. Roberts and her daughter Grace aka Dawn Abrams. Check out
Let me begin with the good news. The Indianapolis Business journal reported today
I invite those of you who have been following this story to take a few minutes to read the comments that Donna Roberts continues to leave on my blog. Ms Roberts, who was convicted of several counts of animal cruelty in New Jersey last summer, is the mother of Grace aka “Dawn” Abrams who fraudulently sold me my dog Moose several months ago. Although, Ms. Roberts was not involved in the transaction between Grace and me, she continues to send me threatening and bullying e-mail messages proclaiming her daughter’s (and her own) innocence.
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement that it wants to buy Genentech, Roche, in a surprise move,
Stemcyte