Falling vaccination rates worry experts

More Oklahoma parents are turning away from vaccines, a trend that troubles medical experts, said a pediatrician Wednesday who has studied the issue.

Parents are seeking more exemptions to vaccines, citing religious beliefs and philosophy, and the state has a high number of exemptions, said Dr. Paul Darden, section chief of general and community pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

“Oklahoma is leading in a place where we would prefer not to lead,” he said Wednesday. He gave a lecture sponsored by the Tulsa Area Immunization Coalition at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.

The benefit that vaccines have provided over the years is hard to exaggerate, and even now, many diseases are just a plane ride away, he said. “Vaccines are good things,” he said. Vaccine hesitancy is not new but has been in the spotlight recently because of celebrities and politicians, who often make claims not supported by science.

Parents may hesitate to immunize their children because they think it is not recommended or not needed, or because they lack knowledge on the subject, he said.

Health care providers also sometimes struggle with how best to discuss vaccinations with their patients.

Education about vaccines is necessary but not enough to persuade people to have their children vaccinated, he said.

“Education is never effective alone,” he said. “It’s almost always needed … but all by itself it doesn’t work.”

It is more effective when health care providers actually recommend vaccinations to their patients. Doctors, as well as nurses and other providers, can deliver the message, he said.

Not everyone does it properly, though, he said.

Health care providers should find a place to agree with the patient, describe how they acquired their knowledge, explain the science of vaccines and advise a course of action, he said.