Why Vaccine Hesitancy May Be The Biggest Threat To Your Child’s Wellbeing

Our children are suffering and continue to suffer, yet very little is being done about it.

Since early November, there have been at least 82 documented cases of Measles in the state of Ohio, nearly all in unvaccinated children. Although 82 cases may not appear striking at first glance, there should be 0 cases of Measles in the state of Ohio and in the entire United States. Measles was declared eradicated in America in the year 2000, mostly because of the success of childhood vaccinations whereby kids usually get vaccinated against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella between the ages of 12 to 15 months and then again between the ages of 4 to 6.

Why has there been a resurgence of Measles and why is this a problem? The answer is not straightforward and there are likely a multitude of reasons for increasing anti-vaccine sentiment amongst parents. The use of vaccines, particularly in the case of Covid-19 was largely politicized with conflicting partisan messaging with respect to the efficacy and urgency of Covid vaccines. This likely led some parents to question whether other vaccines, such as the one against Measles, were really useful for their own kids. In addition, the sheer misinformation about vaccines has also prevented parents from readily taking their kids to pediatrician offices to receive routine childhood vaccines against diseases such as Measles that are usually required before attending public schools.

As an example, fears surrounding the association of autism development in children with the use of vaccinations has hindered parents from participation in vaccination programs. Although this anti-vaccine rhetoric remains popular amongst some parents and social circles, the association between autism and vaccines has not been shown to be true based on evidence-based scientific studies.

The growing skepticism and cynicism with respect to vaccines is a serious problem and will continue to get worse if scientists, health care professionals, and public policy experts don’t act fast. To put this into perspective with respect to Measles in America, there were 13 reported cases in 2020 according to CDC data. In 2021, there were 49 cases. Last year, 118 total cases were reported. Ohio is also not the only state that has reported Measles cases. We are starting to see cases in other states, such as Minnesota. In addition, other diseases that were felt to be eradicated by vaccines are also starting to appear, such as sporadic cases of Chickenpox and Polio.

This is just the beginning of a major problem that could get worse and ugly. The more parents that choose to let their kids go unvaccinated against diseases such as Measles and Chickenpox, the less herd immunity there will be in the general population which means unvaccinated kids are at risk of getting potentially fatal infections. Measles, for example, is a serious disease that can lead to pneumonia and eventually death! In the case of Ohio, 32 children had to be hospitalized for Measles. All of these hospitalizations could have been prevented with vaccination.

What will it take for parents to finally vaccinate their children against deadly diseases that are completely preventable? How many childhood hospitalizations and deaths are we going to allow before we finally take our kids to get vaccinated? A recent Kaiser survey reported 71 percent of adults supported school immunization requirements. This number was 82 percent just three years earlier. The wellbeing of our children should never be reduced to political ideologies or unproven and baseless claims. When are we, as adults, going to get our act together to support our children who, if nothing else, deserve good health?