There are a lot of resources available online that can teach you about herd immunity, but this is by far my favorite! 

It is important to have a solid grasp of herd immunity before you start to delve into the issues and controversies orbiting childhood vaccinations. If a vaccination is successful in protecting against a disease, a community will not be aware that the disease even touched the community. However, the incredible efficacy of vaccines turns out to also be its greatest enemy, leading parents to think that vaccines are not useful. Some parents think that these diseases are no longer relevant to their lives in the 21st century United States. When too many parents hold this belief and abstain from vaccinating their children, serious public health problems can arise. 

But, for now, focus on the positive - gummi bears! 


Below is another illustration of herd immunity. 

According to Jennifer Brown's article, published on November 14, Colorado has had epidemic-level outbreaks of whooping cough for the last two years. Colorado is on track for another epidemic this year. In the last two weeks of October, 100 new cases of whooping cough were reported across Colorado. It is absolutely critical that children get vaccinated against the disease because, according to a study in 2009, "children whose parents refuse to have them immunized against it are 23 times more likely to get whooping cough." This is a very clear-cut reason to get children vaccinated against whooping cough in Colorado! The article also emphasizes that adults should get the booster against whooping cough to improve community imm, especially individuals that work closely with children.  

Parents are very concerned with the side effects of the childhood vaccinations, especially after the publication of the "Wakefield paper," which declared an association between the measles vaccine and autism spectrum disorders. The journal that originally published the paper, The Lancet, These findings have been repeatedly disproved by a variety of respected scientific journals and agencies, but the lasting effects of the frenzy that this information caused are still felt today. 

According to the CDC, the only side effects that parents should expect to see after vaccinating their children are mild - usually soreness or redness around the injection site. However, parents that choose not to vaccinate their children often cite concerns about autism as motivation to not vaccinate their children. These parents also frequently believe that the number of vaccinations that the children receive overwhelms the immune system. These are understandable concerns, but these concerns do not have a foundation in scientific studies. Parents hear and read anecdotes from friends and in online forums, and become frightened of the effects that vaccines may have on their children after hearing these stories. 

The above chart illustrates the diseases that the childhood vaccinations protect against, and the symptoms and complications that result from these diseases. At first glance, the symptoms of the diseases may not seem severe enough to "risk" the onset of autism from vaccination, but parents should also consider the complications associated with these diseases. Children can experience liver failure, get pneumonia, or even die from these vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, when parents choosing to not vaccinate their children declare that the diseases are not severe enough to warrant vaccination, and that their children are better off contracting illnesses "normally," I would urge them to examine the dangerous complications of these diseases before abstaining from vaccinating their children. The real complications of these diseases dwarf the true side effects of the childhood vaccinations in severity. 

The video above is a report by the PBS News Hour about the recent whooping cough outbreak in the state of Washington. The video is almost nine minutes long, but I think it is worth it to watch the whole video because the report does an excellent job of examining all angles of the outbreak, from the anguish of losing a child to the concerns of parents for the future health of their children. 

Continuing on the topic of whooping cough, the following PSA video from this initiative does a great job of honing in on the critical message that parents need to hear about whooping cough. Jennifer Lopez is by no means an expert about vaccine-preventable diseases, but she presents the message in a genuine, conversational way that I think is very effective in reaching parents. Not only does the video address the key points about whooping cough (infants are most vulnerable, infants need 3-4 doses of the vaccine to be protected, a severe cough persists when children have the disease), the video directly addresses the fact that adults without proper booster vaccines are typically responsible for the spread of this deadly illness. This video has all the important information, in addition to being concise and compelling! 

As a college student, meningitis is always on my radar. When it was time to get my meningitis vaccine before heading off to college, I didn't ask any questions because I knew that the risk of contracting meningitis in college is a serious threat. 

In March 2013, a meningitis outbreak occurred at Princeton University after eight cases of meningitis were reported. According the to CDC, this specific type of meningitis was caused by the B strain meningococcal bacteria. This piece of information might not seem particularly important, but this is a serious designation because the meningitis vaccine that is licensed in the United States only protects against the A, C, Y, and W strains. As a result, several health departments are working with Princeton to contain the outbreak, and hopefully providing students with the appropriate vaccine coverage. In fact, a vaccine campaign to provide the students at Princeton with the vaccine against the strain B meningococcal bacteria has been scheduled for this week.  

When I was researching the strain B meningitis vaccine, I came across this article about the current controversy surrounding the strain B meningitis vaccine in New Zealand. The article is fairly long, but I think it provides an interesting look at the current issues surrounding declining vaccination rates and concerns about vaccine efficacy and safety. Many of the ideas and concerns shared in the article are reflective of a similar situation in the United States.