A Doctor's Advice to Parents about Vaccinations
There’s been a lot of chatter in recent years about childhood vaccinations and their alleged potential to do more harm than good. Most of the cautionary tales shed more heat than light, and endanger the children they purport to protect.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, Dr. Douglas S. Diekema published a thoughtful commentary about the struggle some parents have with the idea of vaccinations and how the medical community can encourage people to get their kids appropriately protected with vaccines.
He recounted the story of a mother who wanted to follow an “alternative” schedule versus that driven by best medical practice. The pediatrician went along, prompting the mother to believe that the recommended schedule was no better than her alternative.
Thousands of parents are like her. Some choose not to vaccinate their children at all. Some have religious or philosophical reasons, some want to spare their children from uncomfortable procedures, some just don’t believe the benefit outweighs the risk. Many have no experience with or knowledge of serious vaccine-preventable diseases like polio or measles.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t contemporary health threats that vaccines neutralize. In 2010, California reported more than 9,000 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) — more than the state had seen since 1947. Nearly 9 in 10 involved infants younger than 6 months, a group too young to be adequately immunized and largely dependent on “herd immunity” (when vaccinating a significant portion of a population imparts protection for all members who have not developed immunity). Ten of the California infants died from the infection.
Because some parents—those with religious or strong personal beliefs—probably aren’t capable of being persuaded to vaccinate their children, whether for their own good or the good of society—Diekema focuses on the parents who question the safety of vaccines or have logistic or financial concerns.
1. Eliminate money barriers and disincentives to vaccination. Even small co-payments or fees pose substantial barriers for some families. Public health clinics are one option, but can require travel and time away from work — all disincentives to following through. “Incentives can take several forms, including reduced insurance rates, tax rebates or direct payments,” he writes.
2. Strengthen and enforce school-entry requirements. Such requirements effectively boost immunization rates for school-age children, but vary widely by state in terms of exemptions allowed. “All states allow exemptions for medical reasons, 48 for religious reasons and 20 for philosophical reasons.”
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