By
- Juanita Carnes | Special to The Westfield News
Vaccine hesitancy and politics continue. Years of loud skepticism and outright campaigns against vaccination seem to have taken their toll; a decrease in vaccine use has resulted in a resurgence of measles and other public health threats. Yet the government, which has a responsibility for public health, persists in making vaccine recommendations that are not backed by science while public health officials, health organizations, researchers and other experts press on to protect the health of this country and provide evidence-based information.
I recently read an op ed article that acknowledged the beginning of vaccination in Boston in 1721. An African slave shared knowledge of a century-old African practice known as variolation —a form of inoculation that could protect against smallpox. This was shared with a physician who put it into practice. The success and lives saved were carefully documented. This was the earliest evidence in North America that vaccines save lives
Fifty years later George Washington, noticing that more of his troops were dying from disease than enemy fire, facing great opposition and ordered inoculation of his troops. This contributed to the American government’s responsibility to protect public health. Seventy-five years later, a report on the necessity and power of research paved the foundation for evidence-based public health practice in the US. Public Health has grown as a strong, protective and layered service to the American public.
Public health practices are met with resistance even though health experts do not put the public at risk. With research and evidence-based safety, they make policy and offer education to explain the science. History reminds us that inoculation to prevent disease and death goes way back. It isn’t some new practice that is suddenly going to bring harm to the public
It has always been said by the public health workforce that they are essentially unnoticed until a crisis arises. Public health has always been considered apolitical to align with the mission of protecting health based on solid research without being swayed by politics, business or other factors that may affect decisions. Never in history has public health been so threatened by politics
Carlene Pavlos, executive director of Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and Roeshana Moore-Evans, Health Alliance Board president, wrote, “Vaccines are one of the greatest achievements of biomedical science and public health, preventing suffering and premature death. Decades of strategic campaigns virtually eliminated … smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, maps and rubella. Yet this hard-won process … depends on sustained public trust and political will to follow the science.”
In March, the US District Court ruled against the previous changes made to the vaccine schedule by this administration, recognizing that the government was undermining evidence-based practice and decades of saving lives with vaccines. This week, an executive order was made by the president with a new Golden Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendation despite the fact that this is not his purview. The CDC is responsible for vaccine recommendations
Vaccine guidance made by the order include separating the historically successful MMR vaccine into separate shots. There is absolutely no research that finds any benefit to this. There is presently no approved separate vaccine that is developed, approved and licensed. Experts predict higher risk of infection, missed vaccines and increased cost to families. It is important to note that there is no link found between MMR vaccine and autism, as continually spouted by some
Experts also note that the research dictates when children receive vaccines to correlate when their immune system will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases. Skipping or delaying doses result in the return of previously eradicated diseases as clearly evidenced by the recent spread of measles
The American Academy of Pediatrics and many other experts are speaking out regarding the harm to children and the public health of this country threatened by these unresearched recommendations. Amesh Adlafa, MD, from John Hopkins states, “None of this is reality-based and will do nothing but lower the standard of living for everyone.” Experts are concerned about further confusion for parents who deserve clear guidance and not conflicting political rhetoric
Michael Osterholdm, head of the Vaccine Integrity Project and the director of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy states the executive order does not eliminate the decades of scientific evidence on the safety and effective of childhood immunizations. The recommendation does not override states’ legal authority to maintain and recommend the present vaccine schedule. Many states are still recommending the previous schedule and those recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
To help parents, public health leaders and medical providers, CIDRAP and Unbiased Science have developed a free, interactive online tool called “What’s the Risk?” This tool provides a clear presentation of the safety, risks and benefits of vaccines and the diseases they are preventing
The tool was designed to make information more easily understood. It takes statistics, abstract numbers and presents them in visual comparisons of complications from the diseases and their vaccines. It attempts to show that the possible side effects written in a package insert are actually much less serious and less common than the everyday risks of walking the dog, driving or walking across the street. Everything we do every day is a risk, and if we examined every risk, like a list of possible, not probable side effects, we would become paralyzed with fear.
The goal of this tool is to help people better discern the accuracy of information and to become better consumers of information
Public health strives to follow the evidence, monitor diseases and other health risks, support prevention, edify policy, protect and educate everyone especially our children
“Children are our most valuable renown
Take care of yourself and someone else
Juanita Carnes is a nurse practitioner with 40 years of experience in a hospital emergency department and urgent care facilities. She served 30 years on the Board of Health in Westfield, Massachusetts
