Vaccines changed us

A drop in vaccination rates must be reversed

Before vaccines were available, communicable diseases such as measles, polio and whooping cough were common. Those now-rare diseases afflicted hundreds of thousands of people, killing several thousand each year.

The problem today is that after generations of increasing and steady vaccination rates — during which time many of these diseases were all but wiped out — a small but growing percentage of American children are not receiving their vaccinations.

Recently released federal health statistics show the percentage of American 2-year-olds who have not received any of their vaccinations quadrupled since 2001.

This raises important questions. Are more Americans missing their vaccines because we have forgotten the risk of deadly diseases like diphtheria? Is it because of misinformation about the dangers of vaccines? Is it because of gaps in health care for children and their families?

Experts believe each of those explanations plays a part in what could be a dangerous reversal of American vaccination trends.

Another warning sign has been the re-emergence of communicable diseases once nearly conquered by high vaccination rates. In 2017, Minnesota experienced the worst measles outbreak in years with 75 cases — many in young, unvaccinated Somali children.

Some public health officials have begun advocating for mandatory vaccination laws, arguing that public-information campaigns have been unsuccessful at maintaining the high vaccination rates necessary to protect the public.

But such a strategy would be contentious and possibly backfire.

Advocates should redouble their vaccine-promotion efforts and continue to push back against ignorance and disinformation. Vaccines transformed public health in the 20th century. American society cannot afford to slide backward into the Dark Ages.