BERLIN – Diptheria. Measles. Pertussis.
All diseases that can kill. And all diseases that can be prevented by vaccines.
The promise of immunity though, isn’t always enough to convince parents to vaccinate their children. As the recent measles outbreak in California illustrates, there are parents who, for a variety of reasons, are opting not to follow traditional immunization guidelines.
Here in Worcester County, about 2 percent of parents refrain from vaccinating their children. While it’s not a large number, it’s one health officials keep a close eye on.
“Anytime a child is not vaccinated we’re concerned,” said Debra Stevens, community health director with the Worcester County Health Department. “They can have serious medical complications and they can spread the disease. We want to make sure people have as many vaccines as they can get.”
Local parent Stephanie Amsel says there’s more to it than that.
“The focus should not be on the quantity of vaccines but more so on appropriate assessment of each individual person,” she said. “There is more to it than simply everyone should get as many as they can get. There are genetic, biological, environmental and other factors that can influence the negative effects vaccines can have on certain individuals.”
Amsel said there were a variety of things parents should take into account before they take their children for immunizations.
“It’s become this debate between parents but there’s more involved than ‘should I’ or ‘shouldn’t I,’” she said.
She believes parents should think about how early the vaccines are to be administered, the frequency with which they’re administered and their ingredients.
“They’ve changed over the years,” she said. “You should be aware of what you’re injecting into your kid.”
She says just as patients are given an insert with drug information when they pick up a prescription from the pharmacy, they should be given the insert associated with each vaccine.
“It’s a difficult decision and we’re not given the appropriate information before we’re asked to decide,” she said.
At the health department, Stevens says officials want parents to have the information they need when it comes time for their children’s vaccinations. She adds that concerns that vaccines aren’t safe, however, are unfounded.
“These vaccines are tested to make sure they’re efficacious and safe,” she said, adding that the Food and Drug Administration’s licensing process took years.
Amsel still has her doubts.
“I truly believe the pharmaceutical companies that create massive numbers of vaccines don’t have our best interests at heart,” she said.
In the United States, both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration are mandated with monitoring vaccine safety. According to the CDC, vaccine safety is monitored through three separate programs — the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the Vaccine Safety Datalink and the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network. The CDC reports that nearly 90 percent of “adverse events” following vaccinations are categorized as non-serious.
Kristen Iman, a chiropractor in Salisbury, says she’s often asked for vaccination advice by parents. Sometimes it comes up during flu season, other times it comes up as patients fill out the “vaccination history” section of her office’s intake form.
“I never tell my patients not to vaccinate,” she said. “Instead I give them the nvic.org [National Vaccine Information Center] website and tell them to do their own research. I also tell them to ask to read the vaccine inserts and ask their pediatrician questions.”
She says she does recommend that parents taking their kids to get vaccinated request single dose vaccines.
“I recommend single … because it is a lot for a small infant or child’s immune system to handle,” she said.
It’s also important that children not be sick when vaccinated, she said.
“There are many additives in vaccines that can compromise the healthiest of immune systems so you want to make sure the child is healthy,” she said.
In Maryland, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issues a list of vaccine requirements for children entering school each year. This year, the list included a total of seven vaccines addressing a number of diseases, measles and chickenpox among them.
In spite of the requirements, parents who choose not to vaccinate their children can do so by citing either medical or religious reasons. Though health officials follow up with parents who delay their children’s vaccinations, they do not check in with parents who file medical or religious exemptions.
Nevertheless, the health department does offer education and outreach programs designed to encourage immunization as well as general information on its www.worcesterhealth.org.