Vaccinations vital for child, community health

From measles and pertussis to the annual threat of influenza, vaccines can help prevent a variety of life-threatening diseases and illnesses—particularly in young children. Despite having easy access to this vital preventative care, some parents question the need to vaccinate their children.

“One question I hear often is why do we still vaccinate if we don’t have these diseases anymore,” said James Brouillette, MD, pediatrician at McLaren Greater Lansing Okemos Community Medical Center. “The answer is simply that we do, and people still die from complications from chickenpox and measles. It’s not as benign as people like to think.”

The U.S. has seen outbreaks of measles and pertussis (whooping cough) as recently as within the last year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 28,660 cases of pertussis were reported in the U.S. in 2014, an increase of 18 percent from 2013. In addition, as of July 24, five outbreaks of measles have already occurred in 2015, contributing to 183 reported cases—the most since 2000 when measles was documented as eliminated in the U.S. The majority of these measles cases were attributed to people who had not been vaccinated.

“In many ways, we’re victims of our own success,” said. Dr. Brouillette. “If we go back and look two-to-three generations ago, people were lining up around the block for vaccinations because someone they knew was dying from polio or measles. Now we’re falling below vaccination rates that help protect the community from outbreaks.”

Some parents choose to decline some of their children’s vaccinations due to safety concerns. “There’s been a lot of talk recently about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines being linked to autism, and also concerns about mercury being used as a preservative in vaccines,” said Dr. Brouillette. “With the exception of the multi-dose flu vaccine, mercury is no longer used, and the 1999 study linking autism to the MMR vaccine has been retracted by one if its authors. Despite this, there is still a pervasive fear.”

Dr. Brouillette emphasizes high vaccination rates in communities as an indirect form of personal protection or insulation from contagious diseases—an idea known as herd immunity. When a population has herd immunity, the spread of disease is slowed, lessening the probability of coming into contact with a disease carrier and ultimately contracting the disease.

While some parents decide to forego their child’s immunizations for personal beliefs, other parents may have children who cannot be vaccinated due to an immunodeficiency. “For children who cannot receive vaccines, herd immunity is very important,” said Dr. Brouillette. “Children who are immuno-compromised should get all the vaccines that they can, and I would tell all parents to think very hard about their decision to decline vaccines, because it puts everyone at risk, not just their children.”

Dr. Brouillette recommends that parents have their children immunized with the flu vaccine during the first fall or winter after the child is six months old and annually thereafter, and for all other vaccines, to adhere to the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule which can be accessed at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/.

This story is produced and presented by our sponsor McLaren Greater Lansing.