Tracking & Forcing Vaccines: Parents Want Choices

May 1, 2008

NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter

April 30, 2008

by Barbara Loe Fisher

This week, CDC researchers sent out a warning that one in four child under age three in America is " not in compliance" with the CDC vaccine "recommendations" and that "missed doses" or "mistimed" doses is the cause. Some are calling for more vaccine tracking registries that will track children and their parents down to make sure every single one of the 48 doses of 14 vaccines that the CDC says kids must get has been given to every single child. The Los Angeles Times points the finger at "anti-vaccine parents" and urges the California legislature to put an end to the "personal belief"exemption so only doctors adhering to very narrow CDC guidelines for what constitutes a vaccine exemption are allowed to exempt children from vaccination.The U.S. uses more vaccines than any other country in the world and has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world for young children: 70 to 80 percent of pre-schoolers have been injected with 26 doses of 10 vaccines. That high vaccination rate rises with age to 95 percent or more for six year old children entering kindergarten. The CDC report lamenting that public health officials have been calculating the vaccine uptake among young children incorrectly comes at a time when the rate of infectious disease is way down but the rate of chronic disease and disability among highly vaccinated children is increasing: 1 in 6 child is learning disabled; 1 in 9 is asthmatic; 1 in 150 develops autism; 1 in 450 has diabetes. Today, a Gallup poll reveals that half of all Americans report they are "stuck in a cycle of chronic disease" with two thirds of U.S. workers reporting one or more chronic diseases or recurring conditions. Some want to point to "stress" and "overweight" and "smoking" as the cause for the catastrophic high rate of chronic illness among Americans of all ages. But the public health officials and medical doctors of this country have a lot to answer for and the question everyone should be asking is: Why is the most highly vaccinated population in the world so sick?Educated health consumers, including informed parents, are taking matters into their own hands. They are choosing healthy lifestyles and wise health care alternatives that do not rely on constant pharmaceutical product use, including using too many vaccines.

UPCOMING EVENTS PROMOTING INFORMED HEALTH CARE CHOICES:

May 8-11, 2008: The First Family Wellness Collaborative Conference and Celebration

Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing201 South Columbus Blvd.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106Tel: 215-928-1234 Speakers: Dawson Church, PhD, Barbara Loe Fisher, Stephen Marini, D.C., PhD, Jeanne Ohm, D.C., Larry Palevsky, M.D., Lisa Reagan, Nancy Warren, CPM and many more.$79 for parents and publichttp://www.fa milywellnessfirst.org/ May 12, 2008: Education Before Vaccination WorkshopBayport-Blue Point Public Library203 Blue Point AvenueBlue Point, NY 11715Speakers: Ronald Sinagra, D.C., Lawrence Palevsky, M.D., Nicholas Argo, Esq., Rita Palma, Michelle Doxsee, Physical Therapist RSVP: 631-806-2850 (leave message)

Green Our Vaccines Rally

Wednesday June 4, 2008 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 a.m.Washington, D.C.

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Quarter of kids don't meet vaccine schedule

REUTERSApril 29, 2008by Will DunhamClick here for the URL:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than a quarter of American children are not meeting the U.S. government's recommendations for childhood vaccinations, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said on Tuesday.Their report went beyond the government's typical evaluation of whether children are getting the recommended number of doses of various vaccines and examined whether they were getting them at the right time.Looking at children between 18 months and their 3rd birthday, the CDC researchers found that 28 percent did not meet vaccination recommendations. The results were based on a 2005 government survey involving 17,563 U.S. children in that age group.Missed doses accounted for about two-thirds of those not in compliance. The rest got them at the wrong age or too soon after a previous dose to be considered completely effective.Using the usual method of examining only whether children got the right number of doses, 81 percent of the children met government recommendations, the CDC said."We didn't look specifically at the implications on potential disease outbreaks. But we do know that doses that are given too early or too close together are not as effective as doses that are given the proper spacing and the proper age," said Elizabeth Luman of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.Luman, who led the study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, said the United States has one of the best childhood vaccination records in the world, with fewer than 1 percent of parents not having their children vaccinated at all."For the vast majority of parents, they're bringing their children to get vaccinated. The schedule is very complex and it requires a lot of visits to vaccination providers at specific times. And for parents who are busy, that can be really logistically difficult," Luman said in a telephone interview.The CDC recommends a number of vaccines to protect children against diseases like measles, polio, mumps, chicken pox and several others. Some require multiple doses.(Editing by Maggie Fox)------

Immunization Rates Falling, CDC Study FindsToddlers May Be Missing Crucial Vaccines, CDC Says

ABC NewsApril 29, 2008by Audrey GraysonClick here for the URL:

Fewer children in the U.S. are getting the immunizations they need, putting themselves and others at much greater risk of contracting and spreading vaccine-preventable diseases, new research from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests. More than one in four children are not in compliance with official vaccination recommendations due to missed doses of vaccines or vaccine lapses -- meaning that the vaccines were given at the wrong age or at the wrong intervals -- researchers at the CDC found. The CDC researchers studied vaccine coverage histories for 17,563 2-year-old children in 2005 based on federal guidelines that specify vaccines for administration, dosages, age ranges, and the intervals between doses. Traditionally, the government has measured immunization non-compliance by tallying up only missed doses of a vaccine. In this new research, the CDC recalculated immunization compliance to include vaccine lapses in addition to missed doses. Based on these new criteria, the CDC found that immunization compliance was actually 9 percentage points lower than previous estimates, dropping the compliance rate from 81 to 72 percent. "It's really important that parents understand how important it is to get their kids vaccinated on time and within the recommended guidelines," lead study investigator Elizabeth Luman of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said. "It's important for both the health of the child and the health of the public." Luman added that although the current measles outbreak in California and Arizona is due mostly to people who haven't been vaccinated at all, those who haven't complied with the appropriate timing and age recommendations of vaccine doses may also contract and spread the diseases. "If you have vaccinations too early or too close together, they're less effective," Luman explained. "And on a population basis, that really increases your risk of outbreaks." Some doctors believe that vaccine lapses may have played a role in the recent outbreaks of various preventable diseases in the US, such as measles and mumps. "Vaccination at the wrong age or the wrong interval is not a major danger from the perspective of eventual immunity induced by the vaccine," said Dr. Michael Pichichero, professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "The public health issue is the lack of full protection from a disease until the vaccination series is completed... The recent various outbreaks of measles, mumps and other vaccine-preventable diseases brings attention to the risks parents need to know they are accepting." According to infectious disease experts, the most obvious explanation for non-compliance is confusion over which vaccine a child needs, how many doses, and in what intervals. With about 10 recommended vaccinations for children around age 2, almost all of which require two or more doses within a specified time period, Luman believes that some parents might find it difficult to keep it all sorted out. Complicated Schedule"It's a complicated schedule.....and there are also a lot of vaccines and figuring out when to time them can be a bit complicated," Luman said. Another possible factor may be vaccine shortages. "The US vaccine industry is in chaos due to lack of huge available profits in this sector..... There are constant shortages of one vaccine or another," explained Dr. David Freedman, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "In many cases when there is a shortage physicians can't get any, stop giving it and are not rapidly informed when it is available again. In some cases shortages or non-availability can last a year or more." Although Luman said lack of certain vaccines might have contributed to non-compliance, she believes it had more to do with the specific practices of parents and healthcare providers. Luman also identified another possible reason why so many children were out-of-compliance with the age and timing recommendations for vaccines: the lack of a primary care physician. "The physician may not have known when the exact timing of the previous dose was, especially if the child goes to more than one physician," Luman explained. "Maybe the physician didn't have all information to give an appropriately dated vaccine." Possibly as a result, the researchers found that many parents vaccinated their child too early to meet the recommended age requirements for a specific vaccine dose, thereby invalidating the vaccine's protection altogether. Registries May HelpAmy Pisani, the executive director of Every Child by Two, an advocacy group for raising awareness of timely immunizations for all children, echoed Luman's concerns regarding the possible reasons for low compliance rates. "It is confusing and there [are] so many vaccinations you need now by age 2 that parents have trouble keeping track of them," Pisani said. "We also have a large migrant population, a lot of dual working families... all these things rolled up into one make it very difficult to keep track of what vaccination each child needs and when." Pisani believes the answer to this problem lies in the use of immunization registries, a comprehensive resource for storing all patients' immunization histories so that one patient's records aren't lost when they move from one doctor to another. Just as veterinarians will send out cards to their patients to remind them which immunizations their animal is not up-to-date on and when their pet is due back for more vaccinations, these immunization information systems allow doctors to easily check up on patient's vaccination records and send out reminders to those who due for follow-up vaccine doses. "The up-to-date status goes way up in populations that use the registries because it's so much easier to track them," Pisani explained. "Instead of an entire education campaign to raise awareness of the importance of getting all your immunizations, doctors can just look up the patients who are not up-to- date and call them to remind them."--------

We must vaccinate kids

Vaccines protect us all. We can't allow the fears of a few parents to endanger society.

Los Angeles Times EditorialApril 29, 2008Click here for the URL:

Score one for the anti-vaccine parents: The federal government recently concluded, in response to a claim, that vaccines may have triggered one young girl's autism. Score many more for the doctors: Study after study has shown inoculation to be an infinitesimal part of a vast and complex syndrome. Yet the number of California parents seeking exemptions from vaccination, based on their personal beliefs, is rising and in various counties ranges from 5% to 15% -- high enough to endanger vaccinated children as well. This month, Los Angeles County reported its first measles case in two years -- an unvaccinated toddler. What we don't want is a return to 1989-91, when complacency about vaccines led to more than 6,000 cases in the county.A small but vocal group of parents clings to the belief that vaccines cause autism. They particularly target thimerosal, a vaccine preservative containing ethyl mercury. Perhaps the strongest evidence against the thimerosal theory is that after the preservative was taken out of vaccines a few years ago, autism rates stayed steady or perhaps even increased.The case of Hannah Poling refueled the anti- vaccine argument. In March, the 9-year-old's parents won a concession from the government in their claim that inoculations triggered Hannah's autism. But Hannah has a cell-metabolism disorder and, because she was late on her vaccinations, had several at once. Her story might fit with research findings that certain genetic mutations predispose some children toward autism, which might then be set off by something in the environment. In rare cases, doctors think, that "something" might be a vaccine. But if the child weren't inoculated, something else might trigger the condition -- perhaps even an illness the child gets by not being protected.California health officials must not allow parental anxieties to roll back the clock on vaccinations. Public health is guarded by so-called herd immunity, in which the vaccination of most children protects the few for whom vaccines are less effective. Herd immunity is lost when 5% to 15% of children go unvaccinated. Though state law requires that all children be up to date on their shots before entering kindergarten, there are liberal exemptions for medical, religious or "personal belief" reasons. In Los Angeles County, personal exemptions have crept up in recent years but still account for less than 1% of children. In Mendocino County, though, such exemptions now are at 5.3%, and in Nevada County, 14.4%. Parents cannot be allowed to endanger other people's children. The Legislature should revisit the "personal belief" exemption. --------

Many Americans struggling in life, survey finds

ReutersApril 29,2008by Maggie FoxClick here for the URL:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Americans are struggling through life but only 4 percent are truly miserable, with no hope for the future, according to a survey released on Tuesday.Nearly half -- 49 percent -- describe themselves as thriving, with few health or money worries, according to the researchers at the global polling organization Gallup and health consulting firm Healthways.The survey of more than 100,000 people is an unprecedented in-depth look at the health, wealth and happiness of the U.S. population, the researchers said."You are getting the detail of what it is like to live in this country," Daniel Kahneman, a professor emeritus at Princeton University in New Jersey, told a news conference.The survey found that 47 percent of those polled can be considered struggling, mostly with worries about money.The 4 percent defined as "suffering" generally lacked food or shelter, and also had no hope of improvement in the future.Gallup's James Harter said this compares to Denmark, where 83 percent of people appear to be thriving and fewer than 1 percent struggling. In Cambodia, the situation is the opposite, with only 2 percent thriving, according to other surveys."Part of what this will allow us to do is diagnose at a local level where intervention should occur," Harter said.The ongoing survey -- the researchers are calling 1,000 people a day -- provides enormous detail into what kinds of illnesses people have and how they affect their lives.They are asking 70 different questions about well- being. These include questions about diagnosed diseases and daily physical discomfort, employment and income but also subjective questions about mood and happiness.Dr. Virginia Gurley, senior medical director of Healthways, said the results can directly inform the political debate on health care, the future of programs such as Medicare and even international trade. "We are having trouble competing because of the cost of health care and its effects," Gurley said.NEW HEALTH CARE DEBATEDr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the findings can help launch a new approach to health care in the United States."We are investing the most of any country in the world -- $2 trillion -- and we rank 37th in terms of health," Gerberding told the news conference.Healthways President Ben Leedle said 51 percent of Americans are stuck in a cycle of chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes, in part because of their poor choices."Many are stressed, worried and overweight, all factors which lead to illness and, ultimately, lifelong health conditions," Leedle added.For example, two-thirds of workers report one or more chronic diseases or recurring conditions, and more than 20 percent said they were out sick at least one day and on average six days in the previous month.Workers with one to three diseases said they were unable to carry out their usual activities on 13.5 days each year. For workers with four or more disease conditions such as diabetes or heart disease this rises to more than 50 days a year.The survey also provides insight into how misfortune begets more misfortune. "People who have asthma or who have diabetes are more subject to headaches and colds," Kahneman said.Smokers really stand out, Kahneman said. "The impact on well-being is very, very striking," he said.For example, 54 percent of smokers with a chronic health condition such as diabetes or heart disease reported having experienced "a lot of" stress the previous day, compared to 38 percent of non- smokers with similar health problems.(Editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)

National Vaccine Information Center

NVIC E-News is a free service of the National Vaccine Information Center and is supported through donations.NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co- founder.Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed consent rights www.nvic.org

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