The News Herald’s Collin Breaux reported some good news Thursday: Bay County’s childhood vaccination rate stands at almost 100 percent.
That’s the kind of news we all should be thankful for especially after a measles outbreak in California’s Disneyland that has spread to other states. The measles can lead to a range of complications including pneumonia, encephalitis which can in turn cause deafness or mental retardation and if a pregnant woman is infected she can give birth to impaired children.
Those are all terrible fates especially for a disease once believed to have been wiped out in America. And, measles isn’t the only disease making a comeback in America. Whooping cough has returned after being almost eliminated. The mumps also has made a return although that might have more to do with the effectiveness of the vaccine itself rather than parents choosing not to vaccinate their children.
If reports about anti-vaccination parents can be believed, many of them are wealthy and fiercely protective of the children and they fear that while vaccines can stop some diseases they could lead to others, such as autism.
While no one knows what causes autism there is no known link between autism and vaccines.
“14 studies including millions of children in several countries consistently show no significant difference in autism rates between children who got the MMR vaccine and those who didn’t,” Martin Downs wrote for Web MD.
Unfortunately, this isn’t just a personal decision made by parents about what is best for their children, these decisions affect entire communities. When everyone or almost everyone in a community is vaccinated it creates a “herd immunity” that can prevent the spread of disease. Essentially, one person or family might catch something but if everyone around them is vaccinated it can’t spread.
That is part of the reason why so many of these diseases that once ravaged the country were wiped out once the vaccine against them was developed and made widely available.
As the measles outbreak continues, the anger at those who chose not to vaccinate their children and put others at risk has reached a fever pitch. Some are calling for the parents to be held financially liable and even a few are calling for them to be sent to prison.
It’s an issue that divides many people on ideological lines. “What’s more personal,” some people say, “than deciding what will or won’t be injected into my child?”
While that is certainly true we also think the government has the right and a responsibility to send unvaccinated students home during an outbreak. They only should be allowed to come to school if they are vaccinated. If parents refuse, then they can choose to home school or find a willing private school.
Parents have the right to engage in risky behavior and to ignore the science and the government on the issue. However, they don’t have the right to put others in danger.
