Infectious Diseases in Childhood
The medical community is facing a conundrum. There are vaccines available for a whole host of illnesses which have the potential of becoming an epidemic causing great harm to society, particularly among the young. A strategy of prevention has long been in use whereby parents are encouraged to have their children vaccinated against diseases like measles and whooping cough which can spread throughout schools and communities.
School boards in Ontario, in point of fact, insist that all children being enrolled in public schools must have certification that they have been inoculated against common childhood diseases, inclusive of age-related follow-ups. Parents have the obligation to accede to the certification requirement to enable their children to attend classes. School boards enforce recommendations for best-practise vaccinations to ensure no break-outs occur.
"The vaccines that we recommend have been so effective in largely eliminating the vaccine-preventable diseases that most parents don't have first, second or even third-hand experience with these diseases", explained Dr. Amanda Dempsey, one of the authors of a new report resulting from a survey produced by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
"There are really real risks that are out there. None of these diseases are completely eradicated," she emphasized. The vaccination regimen commonly recognized throughout North America for children six years of age and under includes measles, mumps and rubella shots, as well as vaccines to protect children against whooping cough, chickenpox, hepatitis and seasonal flu.
The University of Michigan study was conducted through an Internet survey. Of those who participated, 13% conceded some type of vaccination schedule differing slightly from that recommended by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccination schedule. Some of the respondents refused some vaccines entirely, or delayed their use.
Two percent of parents refused any vaccinations whatever, according to the findings, later published in Pediatrics. One quarter of the parents interviewed in the survey related their feeling that delaying the vaccines might be a safer option for their children; to vaccinate at a later date, when the children were older.
Citing safety reasons, to skip or to delay giving the inoculations is typically credited by parents. Many of these parents cling to the fear, now fully scientifically/medically discredited, that vaccines cause autism. Little wonder that parents feel so vulnerably fearful for their children's safety.
Believing, because others feel compel to insist that vaccines cause autism, they mustn't take any chances. There are enough health professionals themselves, purporting to know the truth, who continue to pass on that very information, that science still has not disproven the theory of autism caused by the use of vaccines.
"Parents often have this perception that it's a benign choice, whether to vaccinate or not", explained Saad Omer, an infectious diseases researcher at Emory University.
No vaccine is capable of 100% protection. Epidemiologists rely on "herd immunity" to make for a safe community environment. Which is to say that enough children will have received vaccinations to ensure that a disease can be kept from spreading because there are enough protected children within the community.
Where a cluster of parents have allowed themselves to be convinced that vaccinations are deleterious to their children's health, and as a result, a good number of children in the community have not been inoculated, the opportunity for spread of diseases once onset occurs is maximized by a lack of "herd immunity".
"Infectious diseases are somewhat unique in a way in that others' behaviour directly influences you or your child's risk of disease," said Saad Omer.
School boards in Ontario, in point of fact, insist that all children being enrolled in public schools must have certification that they have been inoculated against common childhood diseases, inclusive of age-related follow-ups. Parents have the obligation to accede to the certification requirement to enable their children to attend classes. School boards enforce recommendations for best-practise vaccinations to ensure no break-outs occur.
"The vaccines that we recommend have been so effective in largely eliminating the vaccine-preventable diseases that most parents don't have first, second or even third-hand experience with these diseases", explained Dr. Amanda Dempsey, one of the authors of a new report resulting from a survey produced by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
"There are really real risks that are out there. None of these diseases are completely eradicated," she emphasized. The vaccination regimen commonly recognized throughout North America for children six years of age and under includes measles, mumps and rubella shots, as well as vaccines to protect children against whooping cough, chickenpox, hepatitis and seasonal flu.
The University of Michigan study was conducted through an Internet survey. Of those who participated, 13% conceded some type of vaccination schedule differing slightly from that recommended by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccination schedule. Some of the respondents refused some vaccines entirely, or delayed their use.
Two percent of parents refused any vaccinations whatever, according to the findings, later published in Pediatrics. One quarter of the parents interviewed in the survey related their feeling that delaying the vaccines might be a safer option for their children; to vaccinate at a later date, when the children were older.
Citing safety reasons, to skip or to delay giving the inoculations is typically credited by parents. Many of these parents cling to the fear, now fully scientifically/medically discredited, that vaccines cause autism. Little wonder that parents feel so vulnerably fearful for their children's safety.
Believing, because others feel compel to insist that vaccines cause autism, they mustn't take any chances. There are enough health professionals themselves, purporting to know the truth, who continue to pass on that very information, that science still has not disproven the theory of autism caused by the use of vaccines.
"Parents often have this perception that it's a benign choice, whether to vaccinate or not", explained Saad Omer, an infectious diseases researcher at Emory University.
No vaccine is capable of 100% protection. Epidemiologists rely on "herd immunity" to make for a safe community environment. Which is to say that enough children will have received vaccinations to ensure that a disease can be kept from spreading because there are enough protected children within the community.
Where a cluster of parents have allowed themselves to be convinced that vaccinations are deleterious to their children's health, and as a result, a good number of children in the community have not been inoculated, the opportunity for spread of diseases once onset occurs is maximized by a lack of "herd immunity".
"Infectious diseases are somewhat unique in a way in that others' behaviour directly influences you or your child's risk of disease," said Saad Omer.
Labels: Health, Human Relations, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ 6:50 PM
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