Kids, Diseases, Vaccinations – And Parental Peer Pressure May 2, 2014 Public Health, San Francisco Medicine Steve Heilig, Vaccination 0 In honor of World Immunization Week 2014, SFMS staff member Steve Heilig authored an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, proposing a new angle on confronting the increasing number of parents who choose not to vaccinate their children. The piece has already spurred much feedback and talk of a pilot project. A referenced version as it will appear in the May 2014 issue of San Francisco Medicine (due out in mid-May). Kids, Diseases, Vaccinations – And Parental Peer Pressure By Steve Heilig, MPH Vaccination is one of history’s most significant health advances. But California has had outbreaks of measles and pertussis in the past year. California also has a rising number of children not vaccinated for such diseases. Unsurprisingly, experts say these trends are linked – and such trends are worsening. Some kids are not vaccinated as their parents might not be able to afford the vaccine – which has too often been poorly reimbursed or not covered by insurance at all. Some might not have easy access to health care. Some feel it is against their religion – the reason for an available exemption to mandated vaccination requirements to enter schooling. AB 2109, a CMA-sponsored and SFMS-supported state law, requires that parents be told about vaccines by a health professional before not having their kid vaccinated. But the primary factor in the more recent increase in parents' not having their kids vaccinated seems to be fears about risks of vaccines – especially increased autism. While that and other fears have been discredited in the scientific world, misinformation still spreads widely via the internet and in social settings. Among die-hard anti-vaccine activists, no amount of evidence suffices to change their minds and actions. There is a long and well-documented history of anti-vaccine sentiment going back over a century, with conspiracy theories and mistrust a common theme – in our time, those providing vaccines are even being murdered in some nations. Health professionals have struggled to develop effective, convincing messages to counter anti-vaccine sentiment. Much of the mistrust and misinformation about vaccines is spread among parents (and interestingly enough, both the most and least affluent families are often most prone to anti-vaccine propaganda). Parental peer pressure is powerful. When head lice are found in a school, alerts to parents can be an effective tool in battling the problem. For this more serious issue, health professionals could do more to harness that power in favor of vaccines. The large majority of parents still do trust their pediatricians and other doctors and do vaccinate their kids. Not enough know that the decision by a minority of parents not to vaccinate can put all kids at risk – especially when the percentage of kids vaccinated falls beneath that needed for what is called “herd immunity.” Thus, this modest proposal: At any school where unvaccinated children are enrolled, parents could be warned – and urged to take action by urging the parents of those children to heed both science and public responsibility and have their kids vaccinated. A poster could be posted at schools, parent/teacher meetings, and mailed to parents. It just might help. And even it this might be construed by some as "public shaming" – isn't that sometimes justified when behavior can justifiably be called shameful? REFERENCES Measles Count Reaches 49 in California. California Dept. of Public Health, 3/28/2014 Vaccination Exemptions Among Calif. Kindergartners Up 16%. California Healthcare Foundation, 3/31/14 Vaccine refusal tied to pertussis outbreak. California Medical Association, 10/02/13 Effective Messages in Vaccine Promotion: A Randomized Trial. Nyhan, et al, Pediatrics 2014 Public shaming for the sake of public health. San Francisco Chronicle editorial, 3/31/14 Under new law, school nurses aim to stop rise in vaccination opt-outs. EdSource, 4/6/14 Comments are closed.
