38 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • APRIL 5, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
Childhood vaccine rates increase
but more parents also are refusing
Childhood and adolescent vaccination
is considered by many to be one of the
greatest public health accomplishments
of the 20th century, but based on the
results of a new study by the Blue Cross
Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), there
is still more work to do to ensure children
and teens are protected against the
diseases vaccines were developed to eradicate.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield: Health of
America Report shows childhood vaccination
rates climbed 12 percent among
young commercially insured members.
Data shows 69 percent of young BCBS
members born in 2010 were up-to-date
on their CDC-recommended vaccinations
by the age of 2 years and 3 months
compared to 77 percent of children born
in 2013.
The study also found that the rate of
documented vaccine refusal - in other
words, doctors charting parental refusal
of vaccines for their children - went up
by nearly 70 percent for children born in
2013 compared to those born in 2010 (4.2
percent versus 2.5 percent, respectively).
The result of vaccine refusal can be
dangerous, not only for the child who
is vulnerable to diseases like measles
and diphtheria, but for the community
at large.
It played itself out in Minnesota last
year, when a measles outbreak in the
Twin Cities exceeded the total number
of cases reported in the entire U.S. the
year before. Health officials didn’t have to
look far for the cause. Spread of the highly
infectious disease started in the state’s
Somali-American community.
According to the Minnesota
Department of Health, the vaccination
rate among Somali-American children
dropped from the high 80s to a low
of 42 percent last year in response to
the anti-vaccine movement’s targeting
efforts, fueling the outbreak. But the
disease wasn’t confined to the Somali
community. It spread throughout the
Minnesota public school system as well,
infecting non-vaccinated children.
The disease is nothing to take lightly.
At the low end, it causes fever, runny
nose, cough, sore throat and a rash, but
it can be deadly, spawning pneumonia,
blindness and even encephalitis. One
especially alarming complication lurks
in the brain for years after a person has
recovered and mysteriously reawakens,
causing seizures, coma and death. No
one who has contracted that complication
has survived.
Low uptake of HPV vaccine
It’s not just childhood vaccines that
parents are refusing. According to the
BCBSA report, only 29 percent of adolescents
received a first dose of the human
papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine before
their 13th birthday.
The HPV vaccine rates lag far behind
other adolescent vaccines, meningococcal
and Tdap, which have rates of 72 percent
and 82 percent, respectively.
And that’s a problem. According to
estimates from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 31,500 people
die every year from cancers caused by
HPV.
It’s a heartbreaking statistic, especially
because the American Cancer Institute
estimates that, if all teens were vaccinated
against HPV, cervical cancer would be
eliminated within one generation.
What parents can do
The key to protecting children and
teens from diseases like measles, rubella
and HPV is vaccination, according to
the CDC.
Talk to your child’s doctor about the
safety and benefits of vaccination, if you
have any doubt.
Vaccinate your children according
to the CDC-recommended Seven-
Vaccine series: Diphtheria, Tetanus
and Pertussis (DTaP), Heamophilus
Influenza (Hib), Hepatitis B (Hep B)
Polio (IPV), and Measles, Mumps and
Rubella (MMR).
Vaccinate your adolescent against
HPV, Meningitis and DTaP.
For more information, or to download
the Health of America report, visit www.
bcbs.com/healthofamerica.
Courtesy BPT
/healthofamerica
/healthofamerica
