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A Newsletter Exploring Science
& Biomedical Research Issues
For School Educators
Volume 1, Issue 19, Winter 2009

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Thinking About Vaccination?

Diseases preventable by immunization with vaccines are breaking out in many parts of the country, including Michigan. The following are a few headlines culled from the news media near the end of 2008.

Whooping cough cases reported
"Two children may have exposed 130 people to whooping cough..."
— Carmel Valley Leader, Carmel, CA, August 14, 2008

Whooping cough outbreak concerns county health officials
— Goldsboro News Argus, Wayne County, NC, August 19, 2008

VA workers ill in whooping cough outbreak
— Pittsburgh Tribute-Review, Pittsburgh, PA, August 30, 2008

Number of whooping cough cases continues to rise
— WHAS Channel 11 ABC, Louisville, KY, October 27, 2008

"48 cases of whooping cough reported in recent days… "
— WOWT Channel 6, Omaha, NE, October 31, 2008

N. Illinois county has whooping cough outbreak
"Winnebago County has had 38 cases of whooping cough since the end of October … "
— AP, Rockford, IL, November 9, 2008

Minnesota officials expect whooping cough outbreak
— Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, November 14, 2008

Michigan
In August 2008, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) announced increases in the incidence of both whooping cough (pertussis), and mumps, and that there have been more cases of measles in the country than at any time in the last ten years. A recent outbreak (2006) of pertussis in Kalamazoo produced at least 175 confirmed cases. Most occurred in pre-teens and teens, but several were infants, who may be unable to survive prolonged bouts of violent coughing. (The "whoop" is the sound made as the patient gasps for breath after an episode of coughing.)

Pertussis and mumps are among 14 infectious diseases that can be prevented through school vaccination programs, so why are they re-appearing now? There are two big reasons. First, because vaccination has been so successful that today‘s parents are unaware of how devastating (and fatal) these diseases can be, and assume that they are no longer a problem.

Second, some parents hold religious objections to medical treatment of any sort, while others believe that vaccinations actually harm their children. Rumors persist that autism — a severely disabling mental condition that begins in childhood — is caused by vaccinations. Though many well-constructed scientific studies have demonstrated otherwise, the belief still flourishes among some groups. As a result, a growing minority of parents are opting out of school immunization programs, leaving their children as both potential victims and carriers of disease. This endangers everyone who comes into contact with them, especially those most at-risk: unvaccinated infants and the elderly whose immunization lessens over time.

As recently as 1994, Michigan had the lowest percentage of immunized people in the U.S. — only 61%. Today that number has risen to 80%, but the nationwide goal is 90% and many states have already achieved it. Recent increasing rates of infectious disease suggest that rather than moving toward the goal, Michigan and other parts of the U.S. may be backsliding as more parents refuse to vaccinate their children.

How do we, or should we, compromise between individual rights and public health?

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