Not many parents would question reasonable precautions taken by schools to protect those few children with dangerous food allergies. These measures range from protocols on handling allergy-causing foods to outright bans on such things as peanut products.
Yet many more children are at risk of serious illness because some parents have refused or neglected to have their children vaccinated. The 鈥渂etter safe than sorry鈥� attitude concerning allergies should be applied in even greater measure to immunization.
More than 100 cases of measles in 14 U.S. states have been traced to an outbreak that started in December at Disneyland. Public health officials in Toronto have confirmed four cases of measles in the past week, and several more cases are suspected in Quebec. A decline in the rate of immunizations has been blamed for the outbreaks.
In the spring of 2014, sa国际传媒 experienced its largest outbreak of measles in 30 years, with Fraser Health reporting more than 400 cases in a four-week period. Many of those cases occurred in Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs and Hope and spread after first surfacing among members of a religious group whose pastor doesn鈥檛 believe in immunization.
Immunization is one of medical science鈥檚 greatest success stories. Smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases known to humans (it is estimated to have killed 300 million people in the 20th century alone) has been eradicated. Polio has been all but eliminated from the globe 鈥� it persists in a few places, largely because of suspicion concerning vaccination. Since the mid-20th century, the development of more vaccines has greatly reduced outbreaks of diseases that were once common, including chickenpox, whooping cough, diphtheria and measles.
It鈥檚 only a small percentage of people who do not have their children vaccinated, but that small percentage is being blamed for recent rises in the number of measles cases.
Some consider measles a minor illness, and while most who contract the disease recover fully, it鈥檚 serious for those who don鈥檛, especially small children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says one in 20 children with measles will develop pneumonia. Other complications of measles are permanent brain damage and deafness.
Before vaccines became prevalent, large epidemics occurred every two to three years, and most people came down with the measles. Each year, 50 to 75 people died, 5,000 were admitted to hospitals and 400 cases of encephalitis resulted. The cost of measles to the country each year was estimated at more than $100 million in today鈥檚 dollars.
To keep the diseases at bay, 鈥渉erd immunity鈥� is needed. That means achieving a level of immunization in the population that will prevent the spread of disease. The herd-immunity threshold for most diseases is 85 to 95 per cent.
The sa国际传媒 Centre for Disease Control says the proportion of children who are fully immunized before their second birthday has ranged between 65 and 71 per cent. That鈥檚 too low.
The decision not to immunize is not really a personal decision 鈥� it puts other people at risk, especially those who cannot be immunized. Those include people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer or whose immune systems have been compromised because of other conditions.
Vaccines have worked so well, there鈥檚 a generation that has not seen what these diseases can do. They feel safe, but don鈥檛 realize they have to do their part to maintain that safety.
In sa国际传媒, only Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick have legislation that requires children to be vaccinated before they can attend school.
We鈥檇 like to think mandatory immunization is not necessary in sa国际传媒, that parents are wise and considerate enough to vaccinate their children, and most are. But for effective immunization, most is not enough.
