Public health, private choices
When a nurse friend and ardent supporter of immunization told me she opposed state legislation mandating parents be educated on the subject, I was surprised.
She had suffered from chicken pox, mumps and measles as a child, and as a nurse encountered numerous children hospitalized with infectious diseases they could have avoided through vaccination. Of all people, why would this nurse oppose House Bill 1288, currently under consideration in the legislature?
“People can make informed decisions with their doctors,” she told me. Government need not be involved.
Currently, state law requires children enrolling in school be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, chicken pox, hepatitis B, polio, and whooping cough (pertussis) unless they take a medical, religious or personal exemption. To gain the latter exception, a parent need only sign a form stating “a personal belief opposed to immunizations.”
Personal exemptions made up the majority of the estimated 2,869 vaccination opt-outs granted to Colorado kindergartners last year.
The decision not to vaccinate impacts more than just the life of a single child. Vaccines are key to what is called “herd immunity.” When 80 to 90 percent of a population is vaccinated, the chain of infection is disrupted. If the level of vaccination within the community declines, however, disease can gain a newfoothold in the population. The disease spreads, and unvaccinated children and adults— including thosewho are too young to be vaccinated, and even some peoplewho are vaccinated— can be infected.
Despite the overwhelming benefit of vaccinations, there are real risks. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in a million Diphtheria, Tetanus and acellular Pertussis (DTaP) doses causes long-term seizures, comas, lowered consciousness, or permanent brain damage.
Although the link between autism and vaccinations has been thoroughly debunked, legitimate health risks have caused some parents to opt their children out of some or all vaccinations or to immunize their children at different ages than the recommended schedule. Some parents, however, opt out because they do not want to go through the trouble of immunizing their children or finding their immunization records prior to the first day of school.
To ensure that parents are truly making an educated decision rather than acting out of convenience, HB 1288would require parents to complete an online vaccine education module developed by state health officials or attain a signature froma doctor or public health agency personnel stating that they have received information about the benefits and risks of immunizations.
A betterway to refute misinformation about vaccines and encourage uneducated or unmotivated parentswhile preserving the rights of conscientious parents to dissentwould be a robust private-sector information campaign by advocates, community organizations, churches, businesses and medical providers to increase vaccination rates. In a free society, persuasion should always be the first treatment of a problem, as history shows that government compulsion often produces unfortunate side effects.