Measles Spread Highlights Vaccine Exemptions; Veteran Physician Offers Historical Perspective
As of Monday, February 9, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of measles cases in the nation is up to 121 so far this year. All but 18 of those recent cases are tied to an outbreak that started at the Disneyland amusement park in California.
But here on the opposite coast, a veteran Newtown pediatrician and medical advisor and associate director of health for the Newtown Health District notes the relatively small number of measles cases has lifted the lid on a growing controversy about vaccine exemptions, especially those granted to students in local schools where the likelihood of rapid viral spread is heightened if even one child comes into the environment infected with an easily communicable illness.
Dr Thomas Draper, who was a medical intern during the mid-1950s polio epidemic, told The Newtown Bee this week that he fears a spike in parents either exempting their children or self managing the administration of certain vaccines could open the door for outbreaks of other currently controlled illnesses — even polio.
“People and parents of young children and infants need to be informed,” Dr Draper said. “Today, things like measles, polio, and smallpox have been virtually eliminated to the extent that they have virtually disappeared in the historical minds of Americans. They are either unaware or have forgotten about the hundreds and hundreds of people who have died from these and other [preventable] illnesses as recently as a decade or two ago.”
Until recently, it was unusual to see more than 100 cases of measles a year in the United States, according to an Associated Press report. Measles are most commonly seen in winter and early spring, brought in by foreign visitors or by US residents who pick up the highly contagious virus overseas.
Measles causes a fever, runny nose, cough, and rash all over the body, and in rare cases, it can be deadly.
That outbreak, and the light being shined on a growing number of immunization exemptions, has caught the attention of Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy who has two young children of his own to worry about.
During a US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing February 10 titled “The Reemergence of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases: Exploring the Public Health Successes and Challenges,” Sen Murphy announced that he is working on a bill to increase the amount of information provided to parents who choose to exempt their children from vaccinations for nonmedical reasons.
“As a parent of a 3-year-old and 6-year-old, the recent spread of the measles virus is especially concerning — as it is to any parent with little kids,” said the Cheshire resident. “If someone doesn’t want to vaccinate their child, they should be fully aware of all the risks it poses to their own kids, as well as the kids around them.”
Others Are Vulnerable
The senator said too many people — babies, chemo patients, and others — are vulnerable to illness and cannot get vaccinated for reasons beyond their control.
“At the very least, parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids should be aware of the danger it presents to their family and society,” Sen Murphy said. Dr Draper concurs.
“Chris [Murphy’s] proposal comes back to actual facts, and rightfully directs physicians to discuss with parents looking to avoid vaccinations the risks that decision poses to themselves, their children, and so many others who might become infected,” Dr Draper said.
Sen Murphy’s legislation would incentivize states to require parents who want a nonmedical exemption from having their child vaccinated to first visit their physician and be informed of the risk of refusing vaccination. The information would be designed to counteract the false information that is being spread, leading parents to believe that vaccinations cause conditions like autism.
Dr Draper said Americans may be at a cyclical point right now when there is a greater lack of faith or confidence in medical advice.
“Over the years we’ve seen this before, whether it was about things like chronic fatigue being tied to certain bug bites, to contracting mononucleosis — ideologies with no basis in fact,” he said. “Today it seems the trust factor with doctors is being tested, and a growing number of parents are becoming more skeptical.”
Dr Draper is afraid this skepticism will be a lynchpin with the potential to release a barrage of formerly controlled and potentially damaging or fatal illnesses on the American public. He recalls vivid memories as a medical intern in 1955, when a polio epidemic washed across the country. The young doctor and his colleagues were “doing lumbar punctures on every kid coming down with a fever.”
“I remember the arrival of that first [Dr Jonas] Salk vaccine — it was like a miracle to us,” he said. “In a matter of months, instead of every neighborhood having a number of children with polio, it quickly became very rare.”
Local Mortality
Newtown’s Dr Draper also saw the dreadful effects of measles well into his career.
“You can go to almost any cemetery in Newtown and take a look at how many tombstones you see of kids who died from measles,” he said. “It was just a few years after I came to Newtown, back in 1963 and ’64 when the measles vaccine was being introduced. At that time it was unheard of for people to refuse vaccines for their children.
“But around 2000, we started seeing a new generation of parents beginning to express reservations about getting their kids vaccinated, and then a few years later, we started seeing a resurgence of some of these controlled illnesses,” he added. As a result, Dr Draper said skeptical parents “need to be confronted in an objective environment.”
He also fears there is a growing number of parents who are choosing to approach “home health care like home schooling.”
Today, Newtown’s top school nursing supervisor Anne Dalton, RN, says 68 district or St Rose students are exempt from immunizations for either medical or religious stipulations. However, she said, the district is not allowed to question parents seeking vaccine exemptions — they simply need to sign off on a form.
The highest number of student exemptions are the 21 at Newtown High School, 15 of which are declared for religious reasons. Middle Gate Elementary School has the next highest number, with 10 of its 12 being requested as religious exemptions.
Ms Dalton said six of the seven at Reed School are exempt for religious reasons, as are all seven at the middle school and eight at Hawley School. There are five exemptions at Head O’ Meadow, three at Sandy Hook and five at St Rose, which utilizes Newtown district nurses for onsite medical intervention.
For Sen Murphy, it is simply about raising the bar for a philosophical objection.
“We said for instance that you have to consult with your physician first or you have to review information about the risks of not getting your kids vaccinated,” he said. “The irony is that if you’re getting a medical exemption in most states, you actually have to have a note signed by a doctor, but if you’re using a philosophical exemption or a religious exemption, often all you have to do is sign the back of that form. It seems like we should, at the very least, try to marry those two standards together.”