The Centers for Disease Contol’s latest National Immunization Survey showed that the numbers of unvaccinated children are on the rise for the third year in a row. This steady increase is putting the country at risk for deadly diseases that have long been under control.
One school in Oregon has vaccination rates lower than Venezuela. Access to immunizations is not an issue in Americans. Instead, children who are not vaccinated are denied this protection by the choices of their parents. The CDC is reporting that over 100,000 two-year-olds have never had a single vaccine.
Some kids have health problems that prevent them from getting vaccinated. These children have long benefitted from herd immunity. Since so many other children are vaccinated, they are less likely to be exposed to these diseases. But in many communities, there are now numerous unvaccinated children, raising the risk of these life-impacting illnesses.
Eighteen states allow philosophical exemptions for unvaccinated school children. This has helped facilitate the increase in kids who are not protected from diseases like smallpox. When these children board planes and travel places, the likelihood of contracting the illness and bringing them back to their communities increases.
Despite evidence to the contrary, many parents fear that vaccines cause autism. It is hard to rationalize with people who refuse to believe scientific evidence and the risks of not being vaccinated. These parents put their children and the community at risk.
When my own children were young, I was concerned about them getting so many vaccinations at the same time. I felt uneasy with my babies getting three or more immunizations in one visit. My doctor offered a simple solution. We staggered the shots. Instead of loading them all into one visit, I would bring my children back every two weeks until they were current on shots. It was inconvenient and perhaps unnecessary, but it made me feel at ease about their little bodies getting all that medicine at once. It sure beats having to worry about them getting the measles or polio.
Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children do so at their own peril and the peril of their communities. The devastation could be immense. Polio has been a thing of the past but there are plenty of people still alive today who fear its return. These parents are rolling out the red carpet for communicative diseases like polio to return by refusing to vaccinate their children.
More information is in the video below.
Source: PBS