chicken pox. Whooping cough. measles. You may have heard about these disease outbreaks and wondered, “Didn’t vaccination end the infection?”
However, the only infectious disease we have eradicated using vaccines is smallpox, which is why people born in the United States after 1972 are unlikely to have been vaccinated against smallpox.
Measles, which infected nearly 500,000 people each year until vaccination was approved in 1963, was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000, a historic public health achievement. This means that an outbreak would only occur if someone brought the virus into the United States from another country, and given the high rate of international travel, an outbreak does occur.
In 2019, the number of measles cases reported in the United States increased sharply, to 1,274 for the calendar year. This is the highest number of cases reported in a single year since 1992, and the majority were in unvaccinated people.
So far in 2024, 269 measles cases have been reported, including 14 outbreaks (consisting of three or more associated cases). Again, the majority (88%) of those who became ill were unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. 41 percent were under the age of five. It makes sense that young children are the most affected because most infants do not receive their first dose of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine until they are 12 months old.
Pertussis (whooping cough) has been a hot topic this year. The number of infected people has increased five times compared to 2023. However, it should be noted that this increase represents a return to pre-pandemic numbers. With social distancing measures in place during the pandemic, whooping cough cases have decreased dramatically. Unlike measles, whooping cough is considered endemic, or common, in the United States. Vaccines against pertussis (DTaP and Tdap) are effective, but their effectiveness diminishes over time. That means if older children aren’t vaccinated, they can spread the disease again. Receive a booster shot. (It is recommended that pregnant people receive the vaccine to protect the infant from disease for a short period of time.)
Vaccines are essential tools to prevent disease outbreaks, but vaccination rates are declining. From the 2019-2020 school year to the 2022-2023 school year, the number of kindergarteners receiving all recommended vaccines decreased from 95% to less than 93%. The number of students exempted from vaccination requirements also increased from 3% in 2022-2023 to 3.3% in 2023-2024. This is the fourth consecutive year that the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s 2030 Healthy People goal of having 95% of kindergarteners vaccinated with the MMR vaccine has not been achieved. In the case of measles, experts say the vaccination rate needed to achieve “herd immunity” is 95%, which means that not enough people in the community are vaccinated, including a small number of unvaccinated people (infants). etc.). (The speed needed to achieve herd immunity is different for other diseases.)
“Reductions in routine childhood immunizations could put more communities across the United States at risk of developing vaccine-preventable diseases,” Jasmine Reed, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told HuffPost. It’s sexual,” he said.
“Vaccination is the best way to prevent these outbreaks and their devastating impact on children,” Reid said.
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For some children, vaccinations were delayed due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Why are fewer children getting vaccinated?
There are several possible reasons why childhood vaccination rates are declining.
First, many children missed regular medical appointments during the pandemic lockdown. “Some children have fallen behind in vaccinations and never caught up,” Dr. Chris Bryant of Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, told HuffPost.
The pandemic may also have changed some parents’ perceptions of these illnesses. “Early in the pandemic, the steps we took to prevent COVID-19 reduced the prevalence of other illnesses such as influenza and whooping cough. They may not know that the disease can be serious for children and may not recognize the urgency of prevention,” Bryant said.
Access is also an issue for some families. “Vaccination rates are often lower among children covered by Medicaid and other non-private insurance, those living below the poverty level, and those living in rural areas,” Bryant said. said. While these children’s families may not be opposed to vaccines, there are barriers that prevent them from taking their children to medical appointments, such as not being able to take time off from work.
Finally, there is a small but vocal group of parents who do not want their children to be vaccinated. These families are seeking an exemption from vaccination requirements in schools. Reed noted that this year’s exemption rate of 3.3% means “more than 126,000 kindergartners will be exempt from at least one vaccination in the 2023-24 school year.” Forty states and the District of Columbia also expanded the exemption. In 10 states, more than 5% of kindergarteners were exempt from at least one vaccination.
Some children, such as those with weakened immune systems, are exempt from vaccination for health reasons. Some people may seek exemptions for religious or personal (sometimes called “philosophical”) reasons. Rules and regulations vary by state. All states allow medical exemptions, but only 13 states allow these other options. Some parents choose to homeschool their children to avoid the need for vaccinations.
Reid said a 2023 CDC study found that “concern about serious side effects was the most common reason parents reported considering not having their children receive routine vaccines.” ” he said.
Again, the pandemic may be behind the change in some people’s attitudes toward vaccines. “One possibility is that parents’ negative attitudes regarding COVID-19 vaccines may have spillover effects, affecting confidence in routine vaccines. “There could also be a prolonged reaction to infectious disease mandates,” Bryant said.
While not all the information people are disseminating about vaccines is reliable, the fear some parents are feeling is real. Here’s what doctors want families to know:
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States require students to be vaccinated before attending school.
Vaccine-preventable diseases can be serious.
Pertussis infections are often mild in older children, but can cause hospitalization in about a third of infants and can be fatal in this age group, Bryant said.
Complications from measles can be serious. If an unvaccinated person becomes infected, there is about a one-in-five chance of being hospitalized, Bryant said. “One in 20 children who contract measles will develop pneumonia, and one in 1,000 may develop encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.”
“Measles encephalitis can cause seizures, hearing loss, and permanent disability. People who recover from measles can develop a fatal brain disease years after their initial infection,” Bryant said. said. Although rare, this condition is thought to be more common in people who contract measles before the age of two.
Some parents may wonder why they should get their children vaccinated against chickenpox, which was routine in childhood in previous generations. However, not all children recovered so easily from chickenpox. Before vaccination began in 1995, more than 4 million people contracted chickenpox each year, resulting in 10,500 to 13,500 hospitalizations and 100 to 150 deaths, half of them children.
Dr. Patricia Pinto-Garcia of GoodRx told HuffPost: Even if vaccinated children become ill, the symptoms are very mild and they are unlikely to develop long-term complications from chickenpox. ”
Vaccines work.
People’s understanding of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines may have changed after hearing news reports that they are more or less effective against different strains of the virus. However, recommended childhood vaccines are different from seasonal vaccines such as influenza and COVID-19.
“Most vaccines offered to children have an efficacy of 90% to 99%,” Pinto-Garcia said. And even if vaccinated children do get sick, they are less likely to develop serious complications.
Once a vaccine is introduced, the incidence of the disease will decrease rapidly. For example, chickenpox cases have declined by 97% since 1995, when the vaccine was introduced.
Vaccines are safe.
It’s not hard to find horror stories online of parents who believe their children have been harmed by vaccines. However, these accounts are difficult to verify. However, there is plenty of scientific evidence that vaccines are safe.
The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which provides financial compensation to people harmed by vaccines, has adjudicated 12,274 petitions from 2006 to 2022, of which 8,904 were awarded compensation. More than 5 billion vaccine doses have been administered in the United States during this period. This means there is about a one in a million chance that your vaccine injury will be compensated.
Pinto Garcia pointed out that you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be injured by a vaccine.
The vaccine schedule has been carefully considered.
Other common concerns expressed by vaccine-hesitant parents include the number of vaccines and frequency of administration.
It’s true that more vaccines are being administered on the recommended schedule today than when parents were children. Dr. Pinto-Garcia compared these to other medical innovations and said: “Hepatitis B, HPV, and meningococcal vaccines are lifesaving vaccines that were not available 40 years ago. Thanks to these vaccines, millions of people can live longer, healthier lives. You will live your life.”
Some parents believe that they can reduce the risk of side effects by delaying or spacing out their child’s vaccinations instead of following the recommended schedule. However, there is no evidence of this and there are compelling reasons to stick to the standard schedule.
“The recommended schedule is based on how a child’s immune system responds to vaccines at different ages and how likely the baby is to be exposed to a particular disease,” Reid explained. did. “Children who are not vaccinated on time not only risk getting sick themselves, but they can also spread the disease to others who are not protected.”
Some parents worry that their children will receive “too many” vaccines at once. A single shot such as DTaP protects against multiple diseases. However, there is also no evidence to worry about exposure to multiple vaccines.
“Current vaccine schedules are based on research that ensures the highest levels of safety and effectiveness. This research shows that children’s (and adults’) immune systems can cope with multiple vaccines without being overwhelmed. ,” Pinto-Garcia said.
It’s also worth remembering that vaccines protect not just children, but entire communities.
“Babies are especially vulnerable to life-threatening infections. Before widespread vaccination, infants and young children were most often affected by these diseases,” Pinto-Garcia said.
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High vaccination rates are the best way to protect them and other vulnerable populations.
“Once the majority of the population is vaccinated, we will all protect each other and
Especially those with weakened immune systems and those who cannot receive vaccines regularly,” Pinto-Garcia said.
