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More misinformation....

http://www.tcpalm

com/news/2008/sep/14/with-fewer-kids-vaccinated-are-students-at-risk/

With millions of U.S. Kids skipping vaccines, are Treasure Coast students at

risk?

BY LEE BOWMAN bowmanl@...

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Hundreds of thousands of American children, including thousands in Florida,

started school this fall without protection from deadly diseases.

More parents are deciding not to vaccinate their children against mumps,

measles, polio and other dangerous diseases because of concerns the

vaccinations are harmful, or because of the growing cost and complexity of

getting the shots. Meanwhile, health officials are starting to worry the

growing number of unvaccinated children is putting the safety of the whole

nation at risk.

" We've already dropped below the level of vaccine coverage where herd

immunity exists for some diseases, " said Offit, chief of infectious

diseases and director of the vaccine institute at Children's Hospital in

Philadelphia. " At some point, we're going to be forced to decide whether it

is an inalienable right to catch and transmit potentially fatal infections. "

At least 135,000 children, out of about 4 million new students, started

kindergarten last fall exempt from vaccine requirements, according to a

Scripps News Service review of surveys submitted to the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention. One in 10 children did not get

vaccinated in some states, and in some communities, 30 percent of the

children were unprotected.

Last year, almost 14,000 Florida students — including hundreds in Treasure

Coast schools — went to kindergarten and first grade without up-to-date

vaccinations, according to state health department records. Those kids

represented 6.5 percent of the student body.

Another national report issued in April from the Centers for Disease Control

found more than one in four toddlers under age 2 are not being vaccinated as

recommended, mostly because of doses being missed rather than no shots at

all.

Concerns vaccines somehow are causing autism, the neurological disorder

affecting a growing number of children, has been one of the primary reasons

behind the increasing numbers of unvaccinated kids. The bulk of scientific

studies have found no link between vaccines and autism or other neurological

disorders, but parents such as Barbara Loe Fisher, the president of the

National Vaccine Information Center, remain skeptical.

" We've seen a doubling of the number of vaccines and doses that the

government recommends to stay health before age 6, while at the same time we

ve seen a tripling of the number of children with learning disabilities,

asthma, diabetes and other conditions, " Fisher said. " No one is saying this

is necessarily all due to the increase in vaccines, but vaccines shouldn't

be left off the table when no one has come up with an answer. "

Until a large-scale, independent study — one so large no medical

organization has agreed to sponsor — clears vaccines of their connection

with autism, Fisher and parents like her feel they should be allowed to opt

out of vaccinating their children or changing the dosing schedules.

But health officials say those choices are letting old diseases, ones

doctors have studied but never seen, return to childhood.

A series of measles outbreaks through July represented the greatest surge of

the disease in this country in more than a decade. The virus infected at

least 131 people in 15 states, and most — 112 — were not vaccinated,

according to the CDC.

Of the 95 measles patients eligible for vaccination, 63 had not gotten shots

because of religious or philosophical beliefs.

Seventeen of the victims picked up the disease overseas, but the rest were

infected in the United States.

In all but two states, parents can obtain exemption from mandatory school

vaccinations if they declare immunization contrary to their religious

beliefs. Twenty states also allow exemptions based on " personal belief " or

philosophical objection to vaccines. Every state allows children to be

excused from vaccine requirements if a doctor finds the shots might

jeopardize their health.

States, including Florida, that readily grant exemptions had more

unvaccinated children, according to Saad Omer, assistant professor at Emory

University's School of Public Health in Atlanta, and several other leading

vaccine researchers in a 2006 report. Infection rates of pertussis, or

whooping cough, also were 50 percent higher in those states.

The unvaccinated puts everyone — even people with vaccinations — at risk.

" Most first-line vaccines are about 85 to 95 percent effective, so even

those who have done the right thing by getting vaccinated on time have a 10

to 20 percent chance they're still unprotected, " Omer said. " So if I'm one

of those people, what are the consequences of people around me not doing the

right thing? It puts me in a great deal of danger. "

ON THE WEB

• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/nvpo

• Nation Network for Immunization Information, www.immunizationinfo.org

• American Academy of Pediatrics Childhood Immunization and Support Program,

www. cispimmunizie.org

• National Vaccine Information Center, www. nvic.org

WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT VACCINES

• 71 percent think the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks.

• 66 percent had heard about the concerns that side effects of vaccines

might lead to autism, diabetes or other medical problems.

• 56 percent said parents should be able to opt out of vaccinating children

because of " philosophical reasons. "

• 67 percent were concerned that about a quarter of America's children did

not have up-to-date vaccinations.

• 56 percent wanted their children to receive all recommended vaccines as

scheduled with no questions asked.

Scripps New Service phone survey

VACCINE FACTS

American children can receive by the time they are 12 as many as 35 shots to

protect against 34 diseases.

DTP: Five doses by age 6 to prevent:

• Diptheria — a bacterial infection that can cause heart and nerve problems

and has a 10 percent to 20 percent death rate

• Pertussis — a bacterial infection, also called whooping cough, that can

cause prolonged coughing spells lasting for weeks and sometimes lead to

brain damage

• Tetanus — bacterial infection found in common soil and animal waste

causing stiffness and muscle spasms; 30 percent of infections kill the

patient.

Hib: Four doses by 15 months to prevent:

• Hib (haemophilus influenzae type — bacterial infection that can strike

the brain, blood, lungs or throat to kill or cause deafness, mental

retardation

MMR: Two doses at 12 months, 4 to 6 years to prevent:

• Measles — viral infection easily spread by sneezing or coughing that

causes about 20 percent of patients to have infections including pneumonia

• Mumps — viral infection that can cause paralysis, seizures and deafness

and, in adults, sever reproductive problems

• Rubella — viral infection that usually is mild in children

VACCINE COSTS

High costs and complicated dosing schedules might deter some parents from

vaccinating their children.

• Fully vaccinating a boy to age 12 cost $927 in 2007 and $1,214 for a girl,

including a vaccine against cervical cancer — up from $155 in 1995.

• In 2003, 16 percent of children covered by private health insurance had

plans that did not pay for vaccines.

• Insurance often doesn't cover doctors' costs. Medicaid pays only $2 for a

vaccine — barely the cost of a needle and syringe — in some states.

• Some health departments, including those on the Treasure Coast, offer free

vaccines for children, but experts estimate nearly 2 million underinsured

children aren't getting help in 30 states.

Scripps News Service research