IMMUNIZATION DRIVE LONG OVERDUE
No doubt there will be parents who decide to fight the decision to start suspending un-vaccinated children from the region’s schools. An estimated 27,500 of the 57,000 children were not on the Windsor-Essex Health Unit’s list of fully immunized children until very recently. Most of them already had all the shots necessary to protect themselves and other children from outbreaks of disease. But for one reason or another the paperwork had not been properly filed, either by parents, doctors or other local health officials.
The health unit has now updated the records and is going after parents to fill in the remaining gaps. It’s about time. Other health units have been doing so for many years.
On Sept. 1, the health unit brought the hammer down on one group of the 27,500: the 4,300 Grade 3 students born in 2008. They will go after most of the rest systematically.
The co-operation of area families has been impressive and speedy: by last week all but 800 families had filed the required proof of immunization. Tuesday only 111 were still not in school. Let’s hope for zero suspensions by next week.
Thank goodness the health unit has taken this important step. It’s provincial law that all children be immunized against infectious disease for the protection of all from the folly of the few.
This is more important than ever, given that North America is seeing more outbreaks of long-dormant diseases, from mumps to measles, whooping cough and chickenpox. These diseases used to kill millions. The reason they don’t today is strictly due to immunization.
Only 855 children in Windsor-Essex are officially exempt from the vaccinations for reasons of severe allergy or religion. But we can expect this number to rise as the health unit’s immunization crackdown continues and some holdout parents refuse to comply or request exemption.
In addition to the religious objections, there will be “anti-vaxxer” parents who claim immunization can lead to autism or even death. This is not true, no matter how many misleading articles you read on the Internet asserting the bad science behind the anti-vaccination movement. The British doctor who started the autism claim has since lost his medical license.
For technical reasons, immunization must include nearly everybody in the group, or the group remains threatened with infection by those who have not had vaccinations. It’s called “herd immunity,” and it is imperative. Our collective children’s health is too valuable to risk by allowing numerous exceptions other than those for severe allergies.
If an increasing number of parents start claiming religious or other exemptions — well, that’s a discussion this community will have to face another day.