Doctors diagnosed whooping cough in three children enrolled in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland last week, though the true number of cases may be as high as nine according to the Washington Post. Also known as pertussis, whooping cough is caused by a highly contagious bacterium. While potentially fatal, especially when contracted by infants, the disease can be protected against by the DTaP vaccine for children and the Tdap booster for adolescents and adults.
These outbreaks of preventable diseases are not isolated. In May, two cases of measles were confirmed in the DC metropolitan area. Last June, populations in areas of California contracted whooping cough in epidemic-level proportions. Globally, citizens of even developed nations, such as theUnited Kingdom and France, have suffered from measles well into the 21st century.
This pertussis outbreak highlights a persistent problem in Americans’ perceptions of immunizations against eradicable diseases. Many doctors and public health officials point to recent debates about vaccines as the cause of these largely preventable outbreaks. In recent years, the media, government officials, and even celebrities have stoked the fire of fears about potential links between vaccinations such as the MMR inoculation and increased risk of developmental disorders, such as autism, in young children and health risks to pregnant women. These claims have been repeatedly subjected to other medical studies, however, and any basis for a causal relationship between vaccines and developmental disorders has been debunked. A 2011 report by the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Vaccines and Adverse Events found that the vaccines, including eight of those most commonly administered to children to protect against measles and pertussis, are “generally safe and that severe adverse events are quite rare.”
Vaccines work on the principle of herd immunity—if 90 percent of a population is protected from a disease, the likelihood of outbreak or epidemic is sharply reduced. Conversely, unvaccinated individuals are not only putting themselves at risk, but are also increasing the likelihood of spreading the disease to others. Because of this, in Maryland, children must undergo vaccination in order to attend public schools. Before arriving on the Hilltop, Georgetown students are also required to provide immunization records.
Many parents, particularly in California, have claimed exemption of belief as rationale for not vaccinating their children. While some view these mandates as a trampling on their individual or religious rights by the federal government, the facts speak for themselves. Childhood vaccinations have reduced incidences of diseases such as polio, measles, and smallpox by more than 95 percent in the U.S. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, exempting children from vaccination increases the likelihood that they will contract a preventable disease by 35 times.
In the face of such evidence, parents who choose not to vaccinate their children have made the decision to privilege their own preferences over the safety of society. Vaccines should be uncontroversial and an uncontested norm. Numerous medical studies prove their efficacy; pseudoscience and poorly informed media personalities espousing damaging myths should not subvert decades of evidence. When making decisions regarding immunizations, parents should consider not only their own child but the health and safety of others’ as well.
