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A small but increasing number of children in the United States are not getting some or all of their recommended vaccinations. The percentage of children under 2 years old who haven't received any vaccinations has quadrupled in the last 17 years, according to federal health data released Thursday.
Overall, immunization rates remain high and haven't changed much at the national level. But a pair of reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about immunizations for preschoolers and kindergartners highlights a growing concern among health officials and clinicians about children who aren't getting the necessary protection against vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, whooping cough and other pediatric infectious diseases.
The vast majority of parents across the country vaccinate their children and follow recommended schedules for this basic preventive practice. But the recent upswing in vaccine skepticism and outright refusal to vaccinate has spawned communities of undervaccinated children who are more susceptible to disease and pose health risks to the broader public.
[...] The data underlying the latest reports do not explain the reason for the increase in unvaccinated children. In some cases, parents hesitate or refuse to immunize, officials and experts said. Insurance coverage and an urban-rural disparity are likely other reasons for the troubling rise.
Among children aged 19 months to 35 months in rural areas, about 2 percent received no vaccinations in 2017. That is double the number of unvaccinated children living in urban areas.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 13 2018, @05:15AM
*sigh*
How about some math? Let's say that 4 children in 100 are NOT vaccinated against - ohhhh - let's say measles. At some point in those children's lifetimes, there is a measles outbreak. It spreads - and affects that 4%. Your child, who has had all his vaccinations, is unaffected. Among that 4% of children who were not vaccinated, some remain unaffected. Some others get measles, and get over the measles, just as I did when I was a child. Some small percentage of that 4% are left with more serious complications. And an even smaller percentage of that 4% die from very serious complications.
Now, tell me - how are you and yours put at risk? You and yours have all been vaccinated, and are immune from the consequences of the 4% actions.
What do you care?
A far more serious concern is polio. Polio killed a lot of people every single year in this country, until the vaccine was developed. (Sorry, I'm not searching for numbers.) Polio crippled and maimed even more people, every single year, in this country. People my age should be able to remember cripples who were victims of polio. I remember two, and I remember the women chattering like magpies about all the dead and disfigured from their own childhoods. My parent's generation feared polio, and my grandparent's generation feared it even more.
Today - kids don't even get polio vaccines. I might make a case that the entire country, the government, it's citizens, and all of the medical community are being negligent. Polio has NOT been eradicated worldwide. It is very possible that polio finds a vector, and returns to the United States - or any other nation in the world. It would only take a very small number of people - perhaps even one person - to contract the disease, then pass through the United States during his/her infectious period. WHAM! In a matter of weeks, we have a million (or more) cases of polio.
How about this idea: Living has risks. Your risk of dieing of measles, or rubella, or any of those things we are commonly vaccinated against is your risk. You may manage your risk as you see fit. Allow others the right to manage their own risk.
Have YOU been vaccinated for polio? If not, do I have the right to demand that you get vaccinated? I was vaccinated - in - uhhhhh - I think it was 1960. You should be too!