Vaccination value evident through visit to old cemeteries

<p>The recent outbreaks of measles in Washington and New York and 17 other states are stark reminders of the importance of vaccination. Over 465 cases have been reported nationwide.</p><p>Each year, there are measles outbreaks largely caused by international travelers who contract measles and bring it into America, primarily infecting unvaccinated communities or pockets of unvaccinated people, predominantly children. It’s just the measles? Measles is one of the major causes of child mortality worldwide.</p><p>In 2018, there were 17 different outbreaks; in 2017, Minnesota experienced a 75-case outbreak, and in 2015, a large 147-case outbreak that originated at Disneyland spread to multiple states. In 2014, there were 23 measles outbreaks in 27 states totaling 667 cases.</p><p>During the 20th-century, the average life span increased by 30 years due to advancements in public health protections. Much of this increase was the result of the massive program to vaccinate all children for a variety of diseases including small pox (eliminated entirely from the world due to vaccination), measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, and whooping cough. There are also now immunizations against Haemophilus influenzae, meningococcal disease, pneumonia, influenza and rotavirus. Many children previously died or were forever impaired by these diseases. Imagine, just 70 years ago, parents dreaded every summer that their children might be crippled by polio, avoiding swimming pools, movie theatres, and other gatherings.</p><p>The internet has been a huge source of misinformation and pseudoscience regarding vaccine dangers. It is unfortunate that some parents exposed to this misinformation refuse to allow their children to become immunized or insist on alternate schedules which delay protection. This information is spread between friends and diffuses widely into the population. It is astonishing to me that some parents prefer to believe internet anti-vaccine sources and celebrities rather than their own physicians, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and trusted academic medical center informational sources. Some believe that physicians, vaccine manufacturers, and these other entities are engaged in a conspiracy to hide the truth regarding vaccines. If one believes there is a conspiracy, then there is no convincing. Better to focus on those with fears or are “on the fence” regarding vaccines.</p><p>Vaccines, like any medication, may have unusual and rare side effects. Dozens of large credible mainstream scientific studies (including a recent huge Danish study) have proven that vaccines, the number of immunizations, and all added components are very safe, and do not cause autism. Specifically, the scare that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism was fueled by the completely fabricated research of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, despicably motivated by personal greed. He was completely discredited and lost his British medical license.</p><p>When I encounter vaccine hesitancy, I ask parents to go to an old cemetery. They will see an astonishing number of tombstones of children, many of whom died of vaccine-preventable diseases today. The deaths of young healthy people were just an unfortunate fact of everyday life. It is easy to take vaccines for granted since their very success, the elimination of diseases, makes their value invisible. It’s hard to appreciate what one does not experience.</p><p>Measles was officially eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, but because of lowered immunization rates in some communities (partly due to opt-out statutes in some states for philosophical or personal beliefs), it again persists today. Unvaccinated people also unfairly put others at risk who are unable to be vaccinated. Examples include infants and the immunosuppressed.</p><p>Immunizations are one of the true miracles of modern medicine, and continued high vaccination rates are essential for the common good.</p>