It is all well and good to discuss the issues of pseudoscience and to become better informed about the issues. However, it is also up to us to act when we feel like we can make a difference. To this end, I have created a proposal to work to erradicate one particularl facet of pseudoscience: Vaccine fears. I have proposed to the Albuquerque Public School Board of Education to introduce mandatory discussion of vaccnes to high school health curriculum as a way of giving students accurate and unbiased information about vaccines, allowing them to make informed decisions.
Knowledge is Power: Vaccine Education in Health Classes
15 children every hour die from immunization-preventable diseases around the world, 132,400 children every year as estimated by the World Health Organization. The graphic above compares the number of unimmunized children (the larger the country the higher the percentage) with the death rate of those under five (with again, larger indicating a higher percentage). While most of these deaths occur in parts of the world where there is no access to vaccines and so no choice about whether to vaccinate or not. However, here in the U.S. where vaccines are readily available, a debate rages about whether or not vaccines should be used at all. Faced with the danger of a rise of previously eradicated diseases like measles, polio, and whooping cough, it is vital that information about vaccines, both their benefits and their possible affects, be readily available as children grow into adulthood. It is these children who will make the decisions about vaccinating the next generation, and who must be fully informed when the time comes.
A Hisory of Unvaccination
While unvaccinated children represent a very small percentage of the population, the effect of their parents’ choices have larger ramification. In 2010, for instance, researchers confirmed that a 2010 whooping cough outbreak in California, the nation's worst in over 50 years, was spread by children whose parents applied for non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements, many for religious reasons. The study showed that more cases of whooping cough occurred in the clusters of unvaccinated children than not, resulting in 9,120 instances of the disease and 10 deaths (Winter, Harriman and Zipprich). Outbreaks like this happen all across the country. But the percentage of people who choose to opt their children out of vaccines is on the rise, bringing with it the potential for more widespread outbreaks as the number of unprotected children grows despite the body of research attesting to the safety of the recommended vaccines.
Rising from a journal article published in 1998 linking autism to the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine by a group headed by researcher named Andrew Wakefield (Wakefield et. al.), fear of vaccine safety and efficacy has been on the rise. Long since retracted due to small sample size, irreproducibility and other issues, the scientific community has done many individual studies that cannot find any link between autism and vaccines at all (Gerber). Much of the reason that these two can be so easily linked is because the early diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder frequently coincides with administering of vaccines like MMR. However, correlation does not equal causation, as the old adage goes. While the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) keep a close watch on both the effects and side effects of new medications (World Health Organization), fears persist. In fact, fears have spread, from contracting autism to contracting seizures, epilepsy, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, and even SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). None of these have been found to be correlated to vaccines (John Wiley and Sons LLC). This means that the issues of vaccines are not with the medicine themselves, but with the education and understanding centered on their use.
A Stratagy For Change
It is tempting to think that the way to solve this issue is by removing the option for exemptions from vaccines before children start school. In New Mexico alone, exemptions account for hundreds of unvaccinated kindergarten students every year, many for philosophical rather than medical reasons (Seither, Masalovich and Kinghton). However, a ban on exemptions will not change the climate or the forces behind the anti-vaccine movement. If anything, indications have long been that such opposition to the movement will make members cling tighter to the beliefs that lead them to fear vaccines (Nelson Patten). If ideas and opinions are to be shifted, it is not clamping down on those ideas, but education, that will bring change.
Bringing understanding of just what vaccines are and what they do for us every day into the classroom is the most effective way to stem a tide of vaccine fears. Because Albuquerque Public Schools already requires a half unit of health classes to be taken by each graduating senior, this is a viable place to put such vital information as it pertains to individual and public health. In the classroom, students can gain a rich understanding of a topic for which there is a wealth of misinformation permeating the public sphere.
A Plan for Implementation
In such a proposed addition to required health curriculum, students can learn about such things as the benefits (as well as rare but real side-effects) of vaccines, the importance of all of all students getting vaccinated, and the successes the vaccines have gained in the elimination or reduction of once common and deadly diseases. From this information, if and when the time comes students can make an informed decision about whether to vaccinate their own children.
Conscious of the increasing strain put on teachers to fulfill curriculum requirements, vaccine information can be conveyed in less than a single period allotted for instruction time. While the discussion of vaccines in the public sphere tends to be convoluted, the evidence-based research into the subject is simple to convey and opens up the possibility of discussion on critical thinking, pseudoscience, and health scares. In the long run, students will leave the class with a better understanding not just about vaccines, but how to critically analyze the health information being given to them, and the skills needed to make informed health decisions in the future, for themselves and for the next generation.
It is up to us to make sure that your children are ready for all the challenges that meet them in the future. Accurate and reliable education helps them make informed choices for years to come. Bringing vaccine education to health classes not only teaches students about this topic, but allows them to knowledgeably engage in public discourse and make decisions for the betterment of themselves and their community. A better informed population means that decisions are not ruled by fear above facts. If we come together, we can help make sure that this misinformed fear of vaccines does not lead to the suffering or death of the innocent. Through education, we can take the world a better place for everyone.
Works Cited
Gerber, J.S. "Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses." Clinical Infectious Diseases (2009): 456-461. PFD.
John Wiley and Sons LLC. "The Epidimeology of Fatalitites Reported to the Vaccine Event Adverse Reporting System 1990-1997." Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (2001): 279-285. PDF.
Nelson Patten, Stephen. The Theory of Social Forces. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science,, 1896. PDF.
Seither, Ranee, et al. "Vaccination Coverage Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2013–14 School Year." Center for Disease Control Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2014): 913-920. PDF.
The World Health Organization. Vaccine Regulation Standards. 2015. Document. 2 November 2016.
Wakefield, AJ, et al. "RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive Developmental disorder in children." The Lancet (1998): 637-641. PFD.
Winter, K, et al. "California pertussis epidemic, 2010." Journal of Pediatrics (2012): 1091-1096. PDF.
15 children every hour die from immunization-preventable diseases around the world, 132,400 children every year as estimated by the World Health Organization. The graphic above compares the number of unimmunized children (the larger the country the higher the percentage) with the death rate of those under five (with again, larger indicating a higher percentage). While most of these deaths occur in parts of the world where there is no access to vaccines and so no choice about whether to vaccinate or not. However, here in the U.S. where vaccines are readily available, a debate rages about whether or not vaccines should be used at all. Faced with the danger of a rise of previously eradicated diseases like measles, polio, and whooping cough, it is vital that information about vaccines, both their benefits and their possible affects, be readily available as children grow into adulthood. It is these children who will make the decisions about vaccinating the next generation, and who must be fully informed when the time comes.
A Hisory of Unvaccination
While unvaccinated children represent a very small percentage of the population, the effect of their parents’ choices have larger ramification. In 2010, for instance, researchers confirmed that a 2010 whooping cough outbreak in California, the nation's worst in over 50 years, was spread by children whose parents applied for non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements, many for religious reasons. The study showed that more cases of whooping cough occurred in the clusters of unvaccinated children than not, resulting in 9,120 instances of the disease and 10 deaths (Winter, Harriman and Zipprich). Outbreaks like this happen all across the country. But the percentage of people who choose to opt their children out of vaccines is on the rise, bringing with it the potential for more widespread outbreaks as the number of unprotected children grows despite the body of research attesting to the safety of the recommended vaccines.
Rising from a journal article published in 1998 linking autism to the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine by a group headed by researcher named Andrew Wakefield (Wakefield et. al.), fear of vaccine safety and efficacy has been on the rise. Long since retracted due to small sample size, irreproducibility and other issues, the scientific community has done many individual studies that cannot find any link between autism and vaccines at all (Gerber). Much of the reason that these two can be so easily linked is because the early diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder frequently coincides with administering of vaccines like MMR. However, correlation does not equal causation, as the old adage goes. While the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) keep a close watch on both the effects and side effects of new medications (World Health Organization), fears persist. In fact, fears have spread, from contracting autism to contracting seizures, epilepsy, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, and even SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). None of these have been found to be correlated to vaccines (John Wiley and Sons LLC). This means that the issues of vaccines are not with the medicine themselves, but with the education and understanding centered on their use.
A Stratagy For Change
It is tempting to think that the way to solve this issue is by removing the option for exemptions from vaccines before children start school. In New Mexico alone, exemptions account for hundreds of unvaccinated kindergarten students every year, many for philosophical rather than medical reasons (Seither, Masalovich and Kinghton). However, a ban on exemptions will not change the climate or the forces behind the anti-vaccine movement. If anything, indications have long been that such opposition to the movement will make members cling tighter to the beliefs that lead them to fear vaccines (Nelson Patten). If ideas and opinions are to be shifted, it is not clamping down on those ideas, but education, that will bring change.
Bringing understanding of just what vaccines are and what they do for us every day into the classroom is the most effective way to stem a tide of vaccine fears. Because Albuquerque Public Schools already requires a half unit of health classes to be taken by each graduating senior, this is a viable place to put such vital information as it pertains to individual and public health. In the classroom, students can gain a rich understanding of a topic for which there is a wealth of misinformation permeating the public sphere.
A Plan for Implementation
In such a proposed addition to required health curriculum, students can learn about such things as the benefits (as well as rare but real side-effects) of vaccines, the importance of all of all students getting vaccinated, and the successes the vaccines have gained in the elimination or reduction of once common and deadly diseases. From this information, if and when the time comes students can make an informed decision about whether to vaccinate their own children.
Conscious of the increasing strain put on teachers to fulfill curriculum requirements, vaccine information can be conveyed in less than a single period allotted for instruction time. While the discussion of vaccines in the public sphere tends to be convoluted, the evidence-based research into the subject is simple to convey and opens up the possibility of discussion on critical thinking, pseudoscience, and health scares. In the long run, students will leave the class with a better understanding not just about vaccines, but how to critically analyze the health information being given to them, and the skills needed to make informed health decisions in the future, for themselves and for the next generation.
It is up to us to make sure that your children are ready for all the challenges that meet them in the future. Accurate and reliable education helps them make informed choices for years to come. Bringing vaccine education to health classes not only teaches students about this topic, but allows them to knowledgeably engage in public discourse and make decisions for the betterment of themselves and their community. A better informed population means that decisions are not ruled by fear above facts. If we come together, we can help make sure that this misinformed fear of vaccines does not lead to the suffering or death of the innocent. Through education, we can take the world a better place for everyone.
Works Cited
Gerber, J.S. "Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses." Clinical Infectious Diseases (2009): 456-461. PFD.
John Wiley and Sons LLC. "The Epidimeology of Fatalitites Reported to the Vaccine Event Adverse Reporting System 1990-1997." Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (2001): 279-285. PDF.
Nelson Patten, Stephen. The Theory of Social Forces. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science,, 1896. PDF.
Seither, Ranee, et al. "Vaccination Coverage Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2013–14 School Year." Center for Disease Control Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2014): 913-920. PDF.
The World Health Organization. Vaccine Regulation Standards. 2015. Document. 2 November 2016.
Wakefield, AJ, et al. "RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive Developmental disorder in children." The Lancet (1998): 637-641. PFD.
Winter, K, et al. "California pertussis epidemic, 2010." Journal of Pediatrics (2012): 1091-1096. PDF.